I was beginning to feel a bit puzzled at this young lady's manner, which
seemed to have undergone a subtle, indescribable change within the last
twelve hours that was as incomprehensible as it was pleasant. It was
just then, however, scarcely a suitable moment for speculation upon such
an inscrutable subject as the deportment of a lovely and charming woman
to a simple sailor like myself; so I dismissed the matter from my mind
and turned to the consideration of other subjects, less agreeable, but
calling more imperatively for my immediate attention.
The first thing was to summon Forbes and Joe to a council of war for
discussion of the question what was to be done with the mutineers.
There were some of them that it would be obviously impossible to retain
on board the ship with the least chance of safety to ourselves; but I
scarcely believed they could all be equally bad, and I was in hopes
that, upon consultation with Joe, I should learn that we might trust a
sufficient number of them to enable us to make the voyage to Valparaiso
in safety, where I thought it probable I might be able to pick up an
entire new crew, without very much difficulty. On submitting the
question to him, however, Joe gave it as his very decided opinion that
there were only three out of the eleven mutineers whom it would be in
the least degree prudent to trust; those three being the negro, the
Swede, and Barr, one of the Americans. These three we accordingly gave
the benefit of the doubt, for the moment; and, that point settled, we
next proceeded to draw up a list of such articles as we deemed
absolutely necessary to the welfare of the men whose conduct had
rendered it imperative that we should maroon them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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