“Come, doctor, you must be done if you can find all that time for talking. Can you save him?”
“I am trying, sir, if only to be prepared to have a witness against you when the time comes for your punishment.”
“Oh yes, of course, doctor, we know all about that. This way, sir. Now, boy. Come!”
“Good-bye, Captain Berriman,” I said, as I leaned over my poor officer and pressed his hand. Then in a whisper—“Cheer up! Perhaps we shall re-take the ship after all.”
Then I followed the doctor, and a minute later we were once more under lock and key, while as I crossed the saloon I saw that a couple of men were pacing up and down, pistol in hand.
I made a remark about this, and then I spoke about the way in which the powder had driven in all the end of the saloon.
“I suppose Jarette must have used about all there is now.”
Mr Frewen shook his head.
“Didn’t you know?” he said. “There is a large quantity on board. It is being taken—across for blasting purposes in New Zealand. Jarette, I suppose, helped with the lading, and knew where it was stowed. That accounts for its being brought out so soon.”
“Pity we can’t give them a dose of it,” I said, “so as to frighten them into better order. Just fancy, Mr Frewen, dropping a bagful into the forecastle with a fuse attached and lit; how they would run for the hatch, and before they could reach it—bang!”