“Nothing else, and I’m out for the reward, which I won’t get now.  You know now how he came aboard.  If I’d only been a few hours sooner, it would have been all right.  He was about to buy his passage when he found the real Captain Thompson wasn’t there, and would probably not be down until the last minute.  That was enough for him.  Trunnell was taken clear aback by his nerve.  It was a risky thing to do, but Jackwell takes risks.  The man has more real cheek and impudence than any above ground, or water either, for that matter.  He ain’t much afraid of a fight when it comes to it, although he’d rather use his wits than his gun.  That’s just what makes me feel sore.  But that isn’t all.  Andrews is going to get clear of some of us.”

“He’s tried it several times on me,” I said, with a smile.  “What makes you think he’ll try again?”

“I heard enough of what was passing between that third mate and steward last night to know it.  But I don’t want to scare you fellows,” he added, with a smile.

Chips gave a grunt of disgust, and I spat contemptuously over the side without further remark.  Our manner was not lost on Jim.  He sobered instantly.

“You know we’re in the way aboard, if we land the hooker all right,” he said slowly.  “That’s clear as mud.  You know also that Trunnell and the rest aboard the Pirate know we don’t belong here and haven’t any right to stay except as passengers.  Trunnell saw us put off in the boat.  He could see us plainly when we started and was, of course, looking at us all the time until the fog closed in.  You follow this lay, don’t you?”

Chips and I nodded.

“Well, if the Sovereign turns up with our boat load missing and Sackett dead, she’ll be in good evidence of what all hands aboard the Pirate saw, won’t she?”

It dawned suddenly upon us that this was a fact.  Trunnell and Thompson, and in fact all hands, were looking after us, waiting for us to come back aboard before swinging the yards and standing away again on our course.  There wasn’t a man aboard the Pirate, we felt certain, who had not seen the boat start away from the ship with our men and Miss Sackett aboard her, for they had nothing in the world to do but watch.  Then they had seen the fog envelop us on our way.  We had not turned up, and the only thing to infer, if the Sovereign came in without us, was that we had missed our way and had gone adrift in the southern ocean.  The word of Andrews and the rest aboard the English ship could hardly be doubted under the circumstances.  If we cut adrift in the small boat or were done away with as Jim suggested, our friends would be witnesses who would help our enemies by any testimony they might give.

Chips dropped his hammer and drew a hand across his forehead, thinking.

“What did the third mate say in regard to our going?” I asked Jim.