“Because I don’t intend to, Miss. This cruise ain’t regular; and I want this fellow here to send out a wireless message to the nearest battleship telling her our bearings and saying that we’ll give up Mr. Jarrold.”
“And if he refuses to accept?”
“We’ll have to provision a boat and turn him loose in it. It’s in the regular steamer lane here and he won’t suffer much inconvenience. Somebody’s bound to pick him up, and, anyhow, there are islands not far off.”
The mate and the engineer appeared with Jarrold at this juncture. His hands were bound and his expression of rage was more like that of a wild beast than a man.
“I’ve already told Mr. Jarrold the men’s terms and mine, Miss,” said the captain. “Mr. Jarrold, sir, which is it to be?”
Jarrold looked like a trapped wolf. He glared at his niece and at his captors.
“You see, I can’t lose my ship just because you’ve done something that seems to have stirred up the whole administration,” said the captain diplomatically. “Personally, if you want to get away, I’d take to the boat. I can cook up a story about you and the young lady escaping one dark night, when we reach port.”
Jarrold raged silently. The girl, white-lipped, erect and defiant, merely said: “Go on, please.”
“You see we can’t hope to get away. Every port we can touch at has a wireless plant of some sort. By this time the whole coast of the two Americas is on the lookout for us. And we can’t keep on going without coal, and because of the crazy way we’ve been making steam, the bunkers are pretty nigh empty.”
Jarrold nodded bitterly. The truth of the captain’s arguments appeared to strike home on even his stubborn mind.