At first Smith pretended not to know what the captain was talking about, but the captain cut him short. Then he proceeded to explain why what he had done—I did not know just what it was—was better than what he had been ordered to do; that it was dark, and they were in some hurry, and it saved time. Smith was a thorough seaman—he would have been good at anything he undertook—and the seamanship shown in his explanation impressed Captain Nelson, and somewhat softened the rebuke which came. But it came. Smith was dismissed with the warning that his first duty was to obey orders, and never to let it happen again. I had no difficulty in picturing his respectful, pleasant smile, and his bow, as he withdrew with a “Thank you, sir.” Mr. Snow’s interview was different. I did not hear him say anything. Captain Nelson’s low voice said various cutting things very briefly. I could not hear all of it, but the gist of the captain’s remarks was that one of the first duties of an officer was to maintain his authority; that he owed it to the ship, to his superiors, and to the owners, and that any officer who was unable to do so would be broken—deprived of his rank. Then I heard the murmur of Mr. Snow’s voice as he asked a question. Captain Nelson’s answer came like a bomb, with a blow of his fist upon the table. “Shoot him, sir! Shoot him! I ’d do it in a second.” Then Mr. Snow faded out of the cabin. In the course of time we turned once more to leeward, and ran for Desolation. This time we did not land in the great bay to which we had first gone, but in a comparatively small harbor farther to the westward. Nobody knew why we had come—at least, nobody but the captain and perhaps some of the officers, and they said nothing. I ventured to ask Captain Nelson. {256} He smiled at my question. “May be something worth while, Tim,” he said rather gruffly. “Never can tell.” I said nothing more. There seemed to be nothing there that we wanted, and we got up our anchor, ran along the coast a little way, and poked our nose into the next harbor. There are a great many of these natural harbors along the coast of Kerguelen, deep, with mountainous sides, except on the western end. The prevailing winds are westerly, and in the course of ages the sea has eaten into the shore of the windward end, and smoothed it out. We called at a number of these fiords. In one or two of them we anchored, and the men were given a chance to stretch their legs, only the officer in charge knowing his errand; into others we merely sailed, and then sailed out again. At last we struck one that seemed to be to the captain’s liking, and a large party went ashore, headed by the captain.