“I refused, Polson,” said I, “because, as you must have been aware from the first, I absolutely and utterly disapproved of the whole affair from beginning to end. You started wrong, in the first place, by stealing the ship and cargo from those to whom they lawfully belonged. That is piracy; an act for which some of you may yet be made to smart. But apart from that, I am strongly of opinion that you are starting this community upon totally wrong lines. You have already heard me say, more than once, that I have no belief in, or sympathy with, the principles upon which Wilde proposes to rule this settlement. I do not believe they will be found to work satisfactorily; and therefore I will have nothing whatever to do with the scheme.”
“Yes, yes, I know, Mr Troubridge; I’ve heard you say all that afore,” answered Polson with some impatience. “But, all the same, I can’t for the life of me see what’s wrong with the plan. As for what you calls our act of piracy, well, there’s no gettin’ away from it that if ever we was found out, some of us would get ‘toko’ for that job, and I expect that I should be one. But I dunno as I feels partic’lar oneasy about that, for I don’t see how we’re goin’ to be found out. And the risk, such as it is, was worth runnin’, for ain’t we goin’ to settle down here and live in peace and plenty and happiness all our lives?”
“You think so, Polson, I don’t doubt,” said I. “But wait a while until the schoolmaster’s theories are put to the test of actual everyday practice, and then come and tell me what you think of them.”
“All right, Mr Troubridge, that’s fair enough; I will,” answered the boatswain. And therewith he rose and, with a somewhat troubled countenance, left me.
The effect of this conversation became apparent when on the following morning, before breakfast, Polson came aft and announced to me that, upon further consideration of the matter, the council had decided to build a storehouse ashore before touching the cargo. And he followed up this communication by asking me for my idea as to what the dimensions of the structure should be.
“Oh,” said I in a tone of indifference, “if you make it twice as long as the ship’s hold, twice as wide, and about twelve feet high to the eaves, you ought to have ample room for the storage of everything, in such a fashion that you can get at any particular portion of the cargo without difficulty, and at a moment’s notice. And let me give you another hint, Polson. If you are wise you will have a careful inventory taken of every item of the cargo as it goes ashore, with a record of the particular part of the building in which it is stored.”
“Thank ’e, Mr Troubridge; thank ’e, sir; that’s good advice, and I’ll see as it’s follered,” answered the boatswain, walking away.
Now, I was quite determined to hold myself absolutely aloof from everything in the most remote degree savouring of participation in this mad scheme, for many reasons; but I had no objection to the dropping of a hint to Polson now and then, for I considered that by so doing I should strengthen my influence with him. I wanted him to acquire the habit of depending upon me to help him when he found himself in a difficulty of any kind; and there was also the possibility that in this way I might occasionally be able to induce him to put forward or support proposals that might be of the utmost advantage to my plans of ultimate escape.
The revised arrangement of the council was put into effect immediately after breakfast, the boats being brought alongside and all hands—except the members of council, myself and my gang, and a few of the idlers—sent ashore. The carpenter, with a gang of assistants, going up to the higher lands to select, cut down, and transport to the near neighbourhood of the beach a sufficient number of suitable trees and saplings to form the framework of the store, while another gang sought wattles wherewith to form the walls, the women and children meanwhile being dispatched along the shore, to collect the fallen leaves of the coconut-palms and bind them in bundles, prior to their transportation to the site of the store for use as thatch for the roof and sides of the building. A fourth working party at the same time was engaged in digging holes in the soil for the reception of the poles which were to form the corner and intermediate posts of the structure.
While all hands ashore were thus engaged, the council was sitting in the poop cabin, drafting the laws by which the community was to be governed—and making a mighty poor business of it, if the frequent outburst of voices raised in angry altercation might be taken as a criterion. As for me, half a dozen seamen were placed at my disposal thoroughly to overhaul the hull, spars, rigging, and sails of the ship; and I began my task by unbending all the sails that needed any repair, sending them down on deck, and storing them away in the sail-room prior to starting upon the repairs. This did not take very long; and pretty early in the afternoon I had my party at work on the poop, under an awning, cutting out worn cloths and inserting new from the stock of canvas carried for that purpose, ripping off the old roping and replacing it with new, and generally putting each sail into perfectly good and reliable condition. There was not so much of this kind of work to be done as I had feared; so it and the building of the warehouse came to an end together.