"But can you answer for your men?"
Wharton blew a whistle. All the crew appeared.
"Men," he said, turning to the sailors, "are you going to stand by me and follow me wherever the ship goes?"
"Yes!" they cried in chorus.
"Are you satisfied, my lady?" asked the captain, triumphantly.
"Yes."
"Where are we to go?" asked the captain.
"To the interior of Africa, in fact in the neighborhood of the Sahara."
"Good, commodore," replied the captain.
"The captain," she said, turning to the men, "shall pay you whatever you demand. All I ask of you is devotion."