“We should save them before the crew.”
“But after us?”
“Yes, after you.”
“And you fancy that they would let you do it?”
“We have guns with which to keep them in order.”
“Guns—guns for women and children?”
“No; the women and children would take their turn first.”
“But that is idiotic!” I exclaimed; “it is perfectly absurd! Why save women and children if you are going to make widows and orphans of them? And do you believe that all those young men would resign themselves to their fate because of your guns? There are more of them than there are of you, and they are armed. Life owes them their revenge, and they have the same right that we have to defend themselves in such moments. They have the courage of those who have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the struggle. In my opinion it is iniquitous and infamous that you should expose us to certain death and them to an obligatory and perfectly justified crime.”
The captain tried to speak, but again I persisted:
“Without going as far as a shipwreck, only fancy if we were to be tossed about for months on a raging sea. This has happened, and might happen again. You cannot possibly have food enough on board for a thousand people during two or three months.”