The black-faced one hesitated one moment, and then cast the die for trouble. "Well, you know where to get 'em," he growled. "Yes, I know where to get them," and Wulfrey braced himself for the tussle. "But----" "Well, then--get 'em, and be ---- to you!" and he leaped down on to his raft and set off for the shore. XXXII Wulfrey watched the mate's retreating figure for a minute or two and then turned quietly to The Girl. "Are you prepared to trust me completely, Miss Drummond?" he asked. "Absolutely. What is it you want me to do?" "We cannot go on this way. He is becoming insufferable. Unless you have anything to say against it, we will take possession of the other ship--you and I, and leave him here to himself." "Yes--let us go. When shall we go? Now?" "We must make it habitable first. It is as empty as a drum, you know." "All the better, since we are overcrowded here with that man. It is to get away from unpleasantness that we go." "We shall need fire,--that means sand for a hearth; and wood--we have heaps here; and cooking things--we will take our fair share, and our blankets. Everything else I can get out yonder." "Allons! Let us go at once and get them." He looked carefully round the horizon. "The weather will hold for a day or two still, I think. Today we had better lay our foundations--sand, wood and so on. Then tomorrow we will go out to the pile and take our cargo straight to the other ship." "What do we do first?" she asked, abrim with excitement. "We will take a load of wood across at once and then go for sand. We will leave the cabin open to air it and light a fire." She was as eager as a child going to a new house, and when presently he helped her up over the side of the other schooner, she tripped to and fro delightedly, and could hardly wait till he forced back the rusty bolts of the cabin hatch with a piece of wood, so impatient was she to inspect the new home. "I like it better than the other," she said, as they stood in the little cabin. "Why? It seems to me just about the same." "The man of gloom is not here. It makes all the difference." They got their wood on board, and he tumbled it down the fore-hatch, which was easier to handle than the main. Then they went ashore, filled a bucket with fresh water, got half a dozen rabbits and a supply of the pungent herbs.... "Why so many?" she asked, and he said quietly, "I don't want to hit him below the belt,"--at which she laughed--"We can afford to be generous. The breach will be wide enough as it is." Then they loaded the raft with sand, and getting back to the ship, arranged their hearth, and with his flint and steel succeeded at last between them in lighting a thin chip, which he ceremoniously handed to her and begged her to start their fire.