The officer in charge of the deck hastened down. “Did you call, sir?”
“Call!” repeated the captain. “I thought there was some one in the cabin. I want a light—that’s all,” continued he, recovering himself, as he wiped the cold perspiration from his forehead.
In the meantime Francisco, with Pompey, had gained his former place of refuge with the Kroumen. The feelings of the young man changed from agony to revenge; his object in returning to the cabin to recover his weapons had been frustrated, but his determination now was to take the life of the captain if he possibly could. The following morning the Kroumen again refused to work or go on deck; and the state of affairs was reported by Hawkhurst to his chief. The mate now assumed another tone: for he had sounded not the majority but the most steady and influential men on board, who, like himself, were veterans in crime.
“It must be, sir; or you will no longer command this vessel. I am desired to say so.”
“Indeed!” replied Cain, with a sneer. “Perhaps you have already chosen my successor?”
Hawkhurst perceived that he had lost ground, and he changed his manner. “I speak but for yourself: if you do not command this vessel I shall not remain in her: if you quit her, I quit also; and we must find another.”
Cain was pacified, and the subject was not renewed.
“Turn the hands up,” at last said the captain. The pirate-crew assembled aft.
“My lads, I am sorry that our laws oblige me to make an example; but mutiny and disaffection must be punished. I am equally bound as yourselves by the laws which we have laid down for our guidance while we sail together; and you may believe that in doing my duty in this instance I am guided by a sense of justice, and wish to prove to you that I am worthy to command. Francisco has been with me since he was a child; he has lived with me, and it is painful to part with him: but I am here to see that our laws are put in force. He has been guilty of repeated mutiny and contempt, and—he must die.”
“Death! death!” cried several of the pirates in advance: “death and justice!”