“Turn him over to the captain,” said the engineer; “he’ll settle the case in a hurry.”
“That is what I started to do, and what I am afraid of,” replied Phil. “The captain has sworn to shoot on sight the first man he catches tampering with the machinery of this boat, and I don’t believe he’d hesitate a moment before doing it, either. At the same time, gentlemen, we don’t want to have any bloodshed on the Chimo if we can help it. It would not only give her a bad name and injure our prospects on the river, but would furnish us with a cause of regret for the rest of our lives. So I thought I would ask your opinion before reporting this affair to the captain.
“My plan would be to get under way as quietly as possible, which the captain ordered me to do anyway, if we were afloat at daylight, and run over to the Pastolik wood-yard. There we’ll give the scoundrel a chance to slip ashore and hide himself. He’ll be picked up fast enough by the natives who own the yard. We won’t make any stop there, but will run on up our staked channel and be out of sight before anything is said to the captain. Thus we shall get rid of our murderer without having his blood on our hands, and at the same time leave him where there won’t be the slightest chance of his troubling us any more. In fact, I’m inclined to think that if he once gets safely out of this boat, he’ll be wise enough never to come near her again. I shall be sorry for him if he does, that’s all.”
After some discussion, during which the wretched prisoner watched the faces of his judges with painful eagerness, this plan was accepted. Under strictest supervision of the engineer, Strengel was made to repair his own mischief. Then with Serge to keep careful watch of affairs on the lower deck, and with Phil at the wheel, the Chimo steamed away from the place of her long detention. As she neared the Pastolik wood-yard Strengel was not only ready to leap ashore at the first opportunity, but he was warned by the angry mutterings of those about him that to remain on board a moment longer than was necessary would place his life in imminent jeopardy.
So, as the steamer rubbed against the bank, he made a leap; his bag was flung after him, and, without having come to a full stop, the Chimo moved on, Phil ringing the jingle-bell for full speed the moment it was safe to do so.
It is hard to say which was the more pleased at this successful termination of the affair: Phil to be so easily rid of a dangerous member of his crew, or the wretch who had so easily escaped a well-merited punishment.
As soon as the steamer again reached the staked channel, Phil resigned the wheel to Serge, and, calling on the two millwrights to aid him, removed the stricken captain to the lower deck. There a bed had been prepared for him in a warm corner, near the boiler, which was carefully curtained by tarpaulins against any draught of cold air. Although the young mate had but slight knowledge of sickness, and was still uncertain as to the nature of Gerald Hamer’s illness, he knew that warmth would do his patient no harm, and that in a case of measles it was necessary to a successful treatment of the disease.