I glanced at the long-boat at this moment. The doctor had pricked his ears and was sitting looking up at the ship with a pale face of astonishment. Captain Barrett, erect in the boat, listened and stared. Captain Sutherland repeated three or four times: ‘Who is it? Who is it?’ For Tom was not to be seen by them; indeed, nobody was visible along the whole line of the ship to those people low-seated save Abram at the gangway and the fiddler and me and Will at the rail. Some fellow near the mainmast hoarsely shouted: ‘Butler wants it all his own way. Let him chuck it and rot! There’s Bates, the mate of the ship. He’s be’n kep’ to oblige Butler. He’s a navigator. He’ll do the trick.’ ‘No!’ thundered Bates, roaring out as though he were hailing the fore-topsail in a gale of wind. ‘You’ve forced me into giving orders, and I’m cursing myself for my cowardice. But so help me, you men, as I stand here, one and all of you, good and bad, drunk and sober, as you listen, sooner than that you shall keep the women and children on the chance of my taking Butler’s place, you may now--now--now,’ he roared, pointing up, ‘turn to and reeve your yardarm whip and run me aloft. D’ye hear me! Now--_now_!’ he screamed, in the extremity of his wrath and resolution, and having spoken he backed from the knot of convicts out of the thick of whom he had exclaimed, put his shoulders against the bulwark, folded his arms and settled himself firmly on his legs as a man prepared for the worst, and at that instant he made as heroic a figure as Tom. Silence followed. The hush was extraordinary. The deep stillness that lay upon the white ocean seemed to come into the ship as a spirit. I saw that Abram was at a loss. He looked savagely about him and made an angry step or two as though he would pace the deck. Tom, gripping the brass rail, kept his eyes, full of fire, upon Abram; his breast rose and fell violently with the vehemence of his breathing. Resolution as fearless and magnificent as the chief mate had given expression to was visible in his posture and looks, and not the grossest and most ignorant of the unhappy creatures who stared up could have mistaken his mind. He seemed to wait for Abram to speak, then cried out, addressing the mass of men generally: ‘Is it your wish that I should navigate this ship and carry you to where we shall presently decide?’ Most of the fellows stared at one another like fools, as though they lacked courage to answer.