‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he answered, ‘I’m heartily consarned for you, and for the lady too, and I may say particularly for the lady, who seems to me to be a born princess, a sight too good for such quarters as them’—he pointed to the skylight with a shadowy hand—‘with naught but a dead man’s clothes to keep her warm. If I could be of sarvice to ye, I would; but I’ve got to be as careful as you. Mr. Lush has such a hold upon the minds of the crew that there’s nothen he couldn’t get ’em to do, I believe; and if he should come to suspect that there’s anything ’twixt you and me, any sort of confidence that aint direct in the interests of the fo’c’sle, it ‘ud go as hard with me as I may tell ‘ee it certainly would with you if _you_ was to play ’em false.’ This speech he delivered in a low key, with frequent glances aft and at the quarter-deck below. I listened with patience, though he told me nothing that I was not fully aware of. ‘But what course, Wetherly, do you think these men will adopt if on our arrival at the latitude and longitude named by that unhappy madman as the spot where his treasure lies, there should be no island?’ ‘Well, sir,’ he responded, preserving his cautious tone, ‘I can answer that question, for it’s formed a part of the consultations the crew is agin and agin a-holding. They’ll think ye’ve dished ’em, and that o’ purpose you han’t steered a true course.’ ‘Ha!’ I exclaimed; ‘and what then?’ ‘You’ll have to find the island, sir.’ ‘But, my God, Wetherly, if it be not there! There is no rock marked on the chart in the place that was named by Captain Braine.’ ‘They’ll keep ye a-hunting for it,’ said he grimly. ‘And if we don’t find it?’ ‘Well, I can’t tell ‘ee _what_ they’ll do. All they’ve said is, “If it ain’t there, it’ll be because he don’t mean it shall be.” But I’ve heard no threats—no talk of what ‘ud follow.’ ‘If there should be no gold, no island,’ said I, ‘my opinion is that they will seize upon the ship and cargo, and compel me to navigate her to some port where they will find a market for their plunder.’ ‘And where will that be?’ he asked. ‘Impossible to say. Lush will probably know. He has the airs and appearance of a man to whom a performance of the kind I suggest would be no novelty. I may tell you now, Wetherly, and, indeed, I might have done so long ago, that it was the carpenter whom Captain Braine charged with murder.’ ‘Well, sir, you’ll excuse me. I’m not for believing that, Mr. Dugdale. That Lush has been a rare old sinner, ye need only watch him by daylight and hear him talk in his sleep at night, to know; but, as I said afore, when ye mentioned it—murder’—I saw him wag his head by the starlight—‘I’d choose to make sure afore believing it on the evidence of a madman.’ ‘But don’t you think the carpenter and, let me add, most of the crew equal to the commission of any crime?’