We are south of the line now, and we should be steering
due east instead of due south if your port is the port that the
owners sent you to."
"Excuse me, Mr. Gerard. Just remember that it is my lead," said
the captain, laying down his cards.
"Come to the map here, Mr. Burns, and I will give you a lesson in
practical navigation. Here is the trade wind from the southwest
and here is the line, and here is the port that we want to make,
and here is a man who will have his own way aboard his own ship."
As he spoke he seized the unfortunate mate by the throat and
squeezed him until he was nearly senseless. Kerouan, the
steward, had rushed in with a rope, and between them they gagged
and trussed the man, so that he was utterly helpless.
"There is one of our Frenchmen at the wheel. We had best put the
mate overboard," said the steward.
"That is safest," said Captain Fourneau.
But that was more than I could stand. Nothing would persuade me
to agree to the death of a helpless man.
With a bad grace Captain Fourneau consented to spare him, and we
carried him to the after-hold, which lay under the cabin.
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