"You didn't tell me what you were about. If you had, I should have joined you," pleaded Franklin.
"You know well enough now which side you want to be on, but you made up your mind too late."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"We are going to let you make up your mind whether you want to go slaving or not."
"My mind is made up now. I say, if you had told me what you were doing, I would have joined you."
"Didn't you say you would like to make a thousand dollars out of this cruise? Didn't you take your grog when all the rest of us refused? Didn't you stay on the forecastle when the rest of us went aft, to palaver with the mate?" demanded Baxter.
"Yes, I did; but I hadn't any more idea of going a slaving than you had. If you had only told me—"
"We didn't dare to tell you, because you didn't talk like a man. I think an American sailor, like you, ought to know whether he will be a pirate or not."
"I did know."
"No, you didn't; and we had to treat you as a pirate. That's what the law calls any man that's willing to go into that business. You had better think of it a while longer, and when you are sure you have made up your mind, we will talk with you again," replied Baxter, as we left him.