“If we had a hundred men, they could hardly save the ship if it came on heavy weather. Will you tow the wreck into port?” asked the mate; and this last request was evidently what he had desired to reach from the beginning. “We will consider it,” replied Capt. O’Hara, not a little startled at the request. “Our sick people are well provided for; and this is the best thing you can do for us. You will make a good thing by it.” By this time the Prince, Capt. Fairfield, and the adult forward officers, had gathered in the pilot-house for consultation. O’Hara stated the situation of the wreck and the people on board of it. He laid before the council all the information he had obtained from the mate of the Castle William; but he expressed no opinion or desire on his own part. He wished to hear the opinion of his elders before he gave his own. Mr. Frisbone listened very attentively to the statement of the captain; and he did not speak a word till O’Hara had said all he had to say. “I want your advice,” continued the captain. “Of course it was not supposed, when I was placed in command of the Ville d’Angers, that I should be called upon to settle such big questions as this one.” “But I have faith to believe that you would settle it right,” added the Prince. “There is only one thing to be done in a case like this; and all the lawyers and doctors of divinity in the world couldn’t make our duty any plainer to us; and that is, to relieve the distressed, and at any cost of labor and trouble.” “That’s the talk!” shouted the impulsive and warm-hearted Shakings, bringing his fist down upon the wheel with force enough to break his bones or split the wood. “Your honor is a sailor at heart, if you never did come in at the hawse-hole, and feel your way to the quarter-deck!” So said Rimmer in his slower and more heavy tones. “But there will be great risk in exposing the young gentlemen to small-pox and ship-fever,” suggested Capt. Fairfield: not that he intended to object to the performance of a humane duty, but because he desired to have both sides of the question considered; and there were thirty-one young lives to be cared for, as well as thirty-two older ones. “I think we ought to save a fellow-creetur from death when the risk of losing our own lives is no greater than the chance of saving them that’s in danger,” replied the Prince emphatically. “That’s my doctrine!” “Your honor was cut out for a sailor; and you missed your calling, that you are not now in command of the finest ship afloat!” exclaimed Shakings, with enthusiasm. “That’s all gammon, Mr. What’s-your-name,” said the Prince. “My name is Shakings.” “I should think it might be; but do you suppose all the good feeling and humanity in the world belong to sailors?” demanded the Prince. “That’s only the shakings of a bad logic.” “Your honor proves that the sailors haven’t all the good feeling in the world.”