“I’ll take one of the revolvers with me and make them do as I say.”
“And probably be knocked down before you had spoken half a dozen words, even though the men were perfectly honest. Who do you suppose would allow a boy to come at him with a drawn weapon without making some kind of a row?”
It did not take many moments for Roy to realize the truth of this, and he seated himself on one of the lockers in moody silence.
“Well, see here, this won’t do,” Vance suddenly cried. “The yacht is getting further out of the harbor every moment, and if there is such an idea as turning back, it should be carried into effect at once.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Roy replied in dismay.
“And I think it would be foolish to attempt to change any of the orders which have been given,” Ned added. “If the men are bent on mischief they wouldn’t obey, and if they are honest we shall get to Key West without trouble.”
“Well, are you going to sit here and let matters take their own course?” Vance asked impatiently.
“This is what I think might be done,” Ned replied, speaking slowly, as if weighing well his words. “One of us could sit in the pilot-house and the other in the engine-room all the time, each armed with a revolver. The third would spell either when it became necessary, and thus a watch might be kept over the two most important sections of the craft.”
“But suppose they should raise a row because we remained on guard?” Vance asked.
“If they are perfectly honest nothing of the kind could happen, and if not, the question will surely arise, when we can speak right out and say exactly why we don’t like the looks of things. Men who have come aboard simply to earn their wages by performing the necessary work surely wouldn’t object to those who stand in the place of the owners caring for the property.”