She had protested
against the kicking of Watts because it seemed to lack motive, because
Watts was helpless, and because she herself was half-delirious at the
time. Olsen's attitude, on the other hand, hinted at mutiny, and
mutiny must be repressed at any cost.
De Sylva's incisive accents helped to bridge a moment fraught with
possibilities, for it would be idle to assume that this polyglot
gathering was composed of Bayards. Self-preservation is apt to prove
stronger than chivalry under such circumstances. Let it be assumed
that three among the twenty could escape that night, and it was
horribly true that the field of selection might be narrowed by a
wild-beast struggle long before the sun went down.
"The young lady has at least given us a project," he said. "It is a
desperate one, Heaven knows! It offers a fantastic chance, and I can
see no other, but--what can we do without arms?"
"Use our heads," put in Hozier. He had not the slightest intention of
making a light-hearted joke at that crisis in their affairs, but he
happened to look at Coke, and an involuntary smile gleamed through the
crust of clotted blood and perspiration that gave his good-looking face
a most sinister aspect. The Irishman cackled with laughter.
"Begob, that's wan for the skipper," he crowed; then some of the others
grinned, and the _Andromeda's_ little company stood four-square again
to the winds of adversity.
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