Joshua had told Captain Liddle of the understanding between Scadbolt and the Lascar, as overhead by Minnie; and now the captain walked to where the two conspirators were standing in conversation with other sailors. Scadbolt was endeavoring to persuade them to seize the jolly boat, and leave the passengers to shift for themselves. "What is that you are saying?" cried the captain breaking in amongst them, and grasping Scadbolt by the shoulder with a grasp of iron. "More incitings to mutiny! Take heed, sir! Give me but a little stronger cause--nay, dare to lay a finger upon boats or provisions without leave--and, by God, I'll throw you into the sea!" "Will you stand this, men?" shouted Scadbolt, writhing in the captain's grasp. The Lascar made a movement towards the captain, and the glitter of a knife flashed in the light; but a blow from Joshua sent him reeling, and in an instant the knife was torn from his hand. "Remember!" said Joshua in a low voice. "You had a lesson from me years ago. What the captain does to Scadbolt, I do to you, you treacherous cur." "I remember," muttered the Lascar, presenting the singular aspect of a man cowed by fear and raging with furious passion at the same time, "I swore to have your heart's blood, and I'll have it! Look you! the end has not yet come. Give me my knife." Joshua looked at the knife; it was one-bladed, with a clasp--one of the articles, indeed, which the Lascar had wrested from Solomon Fewster's fears. "You asked me once before for a knife I took from you," he said; "then I broke it before I gave it back. But this--this I mean to keep." "Now then my men," cried the captain, in a cheery voice, "this is the second time that this damned rascal has tried to step between you and me. What I feared then has happened now. The ship is breaking up, and can't hold together for many days, and if the weather gets worse, may break up in a day. There are certain chances in our favor, every one of which will be destroyed unless we act in friendly concert and like men. This scoundrel has tried to make you believe that your interests and the interests of the passengers are in opposition. He lies! I declare to you, as a captain and a man" (if he had said a gentleman, all would have been ruined), "that your lives and your safety are as dear to me, as those of anybody else on board--except my wife," he said softly yet stoutly, and murmurs of "Bravo, skipper! Bravo you're a man!" broke even from the lips of those sailors who were most disposed to be won over by Scadbolt. "Well then, you hear me declare now, as I have declared before, that I mean you fair. And I declare moreover, that our only chance of safety is in union. Once again--With me,--or Against me?" "With you I with you, skipper!"