‘What do you think of this? There is a God and there is a devil, and God always wins.’ ‘Are they your men?’ ‘Rotch and Nodder! Rotch and Nodder! The one the captain, the other mate of the _Arab Chief_! My men? What other man’s if not mine?’ ‘Tom, you look mad. I feel as you do, but this is a moment for passionless thought. The islanders will be coming on deck in a moment or two; they’ll carry the story of your sudden strange agitation ashore. Rotch, if Rotch it be, may ask questions, get your description, and stop where he is. Do you mean that to happen?’ cried I; and when I had said this I felt the blood mount like fire to my face. I stretched out my hands toward the island, and in the fit of uncontrollable wrath that possessed me motioned like a mad woman, as though I beheld an apparition which my delirium compelled me to seize and drag. Again I could hardly breathe; and though my heart was bursting to counsel him, I could not utter a word. The sight of me in this state did him good; I mean it made him see the folly and uselessness of wild temper and raging words at such a time. ‘Yours is the passion, not mine,’ said he. ‘I have made up my mind. I know exactly what to do. I am glad to have you here to speak to. Words give relief--a little relief.’ And, clasping my arm, he led me to the extremity of the deck-house. ‘It’s too swift, startling, wonderful to bear!’ I cried, squeezing my brows to ease the vile ache of throbbing there. ‘What do you mean to do?’ ‘Bring them into this brig and keep them in her till they confess, though I should have to sail about the world with them till the vessel goes to pieces,’ he answered. ‘Then you won’t settle upon that island?’ ‘Not now--not yet awhile, not until I have received Messieurs Rotch and Nodder on board and dealt with them.’ He added: ‘I want time to think. My brain’s in a whirl. If Rotch hears that I’m the man who has charge of this brig, he’ll not come.’ ‘Peter Green knows your name.’ ‘I believe not. He has not called me by my name. Did he ask it below?’ ‘Not in my hearing.’ ‘Butler is no uncommon name, and I’m changed--too changed to be recognised by the scoundrel in any description of me Peter Green is capable of.’ ‘But Corporal Glass may recollect you, Tom, and name the ship you arrived off the island in.’ ‘That won’t help Rotch. He wouldn’t identify me as his man by hearing the name of a ship he’s not likely to have heard I sailed in.’ He looked at the island, and cried: ‘My scheme is wholly changed. But I have not yet formed a resolution. We’ll talk it over when the islanders are gone. Bates shall counsel me as well as you. Let me but get hold of them here, and by my heavenly Maker, Marian, they shall swing if they don’t sign a confession of my innocence.’