“So now forty bold fellows, including two strong and sturdy black men, and the negro boy we called the cook’s mate, put in an appearance, and drew shyly aft. There were, in addition to these, Captain Smithson and his four men.
“But these latter we determined the savages must not see, else their suspicions would at once be raised, and, instead of our being able to act peacefully and by strategy, we should have at once to declare red-eyed war.
“‘Will you speak first?’ I said to Captain Smithson.
“Without a word he strode forward, and, when he held up his hand, the men came crowding round him.
“‘Men of the Sea Flower!’ he began, ‘I am going to tell you a story. It is short and simple, but also a very sad one. Maybe you know most of the outs and ins and particulars of it already. My men must have told you all about our voyage and our lady passengers.’
“‘Repeat, repeat!’ cried the men; ‘we would have it all again from your own lips, sir.’
“Briefly and pathetically Smithson did so, relating to them all the particulars we already know.
“‘Men,’ he continued, ‘you are Christians, and you are Englishmen. It is on this latter fact I rely chiefly, in case we have to fight with the savages of those Unfortunate Islands. The elder of the two ladies we are going to try to save is English, though she married an American, though her home was on the Pacific slope, and her innocent and beautiful daughter was born in San Francisco. They are your country-people, then, as much as ours. But, apart from that, when I say they are women in bondage and distress, I have said enough, I know, to appeal to the brave heart of every Englishman who now stands before me.’
“A wild, heroic shout was the only reply.
“‘Thank you,’ said Smithson, ‘for that expression of feeling! and I will only add that these ladies, especially the younger, were, all the way out, the light and life of our poor, lost yacht, and that, by their winning ways, they made themselves beloved both fore and aft.’