Truth to tell, after the first, I was more relieved than dismayed at the captain’s resolution to stay aboard.  His drinking habit was growing on him, and afloat or ashore he was now little more than a figurehead, so that my chief asset as far as he was concerned, was rather his reputation than his direct influence.  In contact with the men, I dreaded lest sooner or later he do something to lessen or destroy the awe in which they held him.

Of course Dr. Schermerhorn had been mistaken in his man:  A real captain of men would have risen to circumstances wherever he found them.  But who could have foretold?  Captain Selover had been a rascal always, but a successful and courageous rascal.  He had run desperate chances, dominated desperate crews.  Who could know that a crumble of island beach and six months ashore would turn him into what he had become?  Yet I believe such cases are not uncommon in other walks of life.  A man and his work combine to mean something; yet both may be absolutely useless when separated.  It was the weak link——­

I put in some time praying earnestly that the eyes of the crew might be blinded, and that the doctor would finish his experiments before the cauldron could boil up again.

My first act as real commander was to announce holiday.  My idea was that the island would keep the men busy for a while.  Then I would assign them more work to do.  They proposed at once a tour into the interior.

We started up the west coast.  After three or four miles along a mesa formation where often we had to circle long detours to avoid the gullies, we came upon another short beach, and beyond it a series of ledges on which basked several hundred seals.  They did not seem alarmed.  In fact one old bull, scarred by many battles, made toward us.

We left him, scaled the cliff, and turned up a broad, pleasant valley toward the interior.

There the later lava flow had been deflected.  All that showed of the original eruption were occasional red outcropping rocks.  Soil and grass had overlaid the mineral.  Scattered trees were planted throughout the flat.  Cacti and semi-tropical bushes mingled with brush on the rounded side hills.  A number of brilliant birds fluttered at our approach.

Suddenly Handy Solomon, who was in advance, stopped and pointed to the crest of the hill.  A file of animals moved along the sky line.

“Mutton!” said he, “or the devil’s a preacher!”

“Sheep!” cried Thrackles.  “Where did they come from?”

“Golden Horn,” I suggested.  “Remember that wide, empty deck forward?  They carried sheep there.”  The men separated, intending fresh meat.  The affair was ridiculous.  These sheep had become as wild as deer.  Our surrounding party with its silly bared knives could only look after them open-mouthed, as they skipped nimbly between its members.

“Get a gun of the Old Man, Mr. Eagen,” suggested Pulz, “and we’ll have something besides salt horse and fish.”