Having got hold of the wheel, I would not let go till one or all of them had supped. I was not hungry, and was much refreshed by my sleep, and I found a sort of pleasure in grasping the spokes and controlling the meteoric flight of the little vessel through the star-clad blowing darkness. I steered her as easily as I had steered a Thames wherry, and was proud and thankful to be of so much importance and use at such a time as this. And there was another feeling that swelled my heart whilst I held that wheel. It was as though Tom were mounted behind me, and I, with the reins in my hand, was thundering him to safety away from all risk and possibility of pursuit, across a boundless dark plain. Presently Will, with a pipe in his mouth, steps out and lays hold of the wheel. ‘You again,’ said I. ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘but not for long. Get you in, old woman. They’re scheming watches and want you.’ ‘Will,’ said I in his ear, ‘not another word against Tristan.’ ‘Such a rat-hole to choose!’ said he. ‘No post-office, no bank, no docks, no tea-gardens! He’ll let me get home some day, I hope! But I’m mum on the matter from this moment. I don’t like your looks when you threaten me. You’d slit my throat to please Tom!’ I boxed his ear and entered the cabin. I sat down beside Tom, who gave me some tea, and I made a light supper. He told me that he and I would keep watch till midnight, and Bates and Will till four. They would then relieve us. We did not sit long. Whilst I ate, our talk was all about Tristan. He seemed very resolved. ‘We’ll heave-to off the island,’ said he, ‘and I’ll go ashore or send for Glass. There may be a parson on the island by this time. I hope so. It won’t do to go away to the Cape and get married, Marian. Table Bay is all too public. The town’s full of English, and then this brig’s consigned there, and they’ll want the story of our falling in with her and how it came about.’ ‘They’ll print what they hear; they have newspapers,’ said the mate. ‘We’ll see what help the islanders can give us. I’d sooner head west than east for a parson, Marian.’ ‘One should go west to get married. Heading east makes time, and the less time the better when the job’s over--occasionally,’ said the mate with a dull smile. ‘We’d return in the brig to Tristan,’ continued Tom, who seemed not to know that the mate had made a joke, ‘and Bates and Will would proceed for the Cape with a yarn of falling in with the _Old Stormy_ that’ll utterly sink my name out of the matter.’ So saying, he went to his berth, and returned with a seaman’s jacket and a good, almost new, shawl for the neck. He wrapped me up, saying that I’d be obliged to stand sometimes at the wheel, whilst he looked about him; and that of a night, though a man be under the Line, yet, if it blows, he’ll need plenty of clothes at the helm.