“All right, captain; and four persons on board have been outraged besides yourself; but we have no time to talk about it. If you will be kind enough to move into the room made ready for you, that will save me the trouble of putting you there myself,” interposed the shipmaster. “I will not submit to this treatment! I will not do anything that looks like submission!” protested Scoble, squirming as much as he could with his wrists ironed behind him. “Just as you please, captain,” said Captain Ringgold, seizing him by the collar of his coat with both hands, and dragging him to the stateroom as though he had been nothing but a small boy, for he was powerless in the grasp of his stalwart conqueror. With no difficulty whatever he thrust him into the room, and closed the door upon him. Louis was ready with the key of the lock, and promptly secured him so that he could not escape without breaking the door down. He seemed to be disposed to do this, and at once began to deliver violent blows, apparently with the heels of his boots, against the lower panel of the door. “That won’t do,” said the stout captain briskly. “He is determined to be as uncomfortable as possible, and he shall have his own way. Unlock the door, Louis. Flix, go and find some cord, or rope; I saw some in the passage to the fore cabin.” Louis opened the door, and Felix hastened to procure the line required. Captain Ringgold went into the room, and took the prisoner by the collar, and shoved him over to a stool in the corner. “You make more noise than the law allows, Captain Scoble,” said his resolute captor, looking about the room to arrange his plan for dealing with the obdurate man. “I told you I would not submit, and there is no such thing as submission in me!” howled Scoble. “So much the worse for you, my man; but I shall keep you quiet in spite of all you can do.” “See if you do!” replied the prisoner, still manifesting persistent defiance of his stout adversary. “You may kill me, but you cannot subdue me! I am a free-born Briton, and I submit to no man!” “You are a free-born thief that ought to be behind prison walls, and I hope to have you there soon,” added the captain, who proceeded with the help of the boys to bind his ankles together, and then made him fast to the front of the berth. CHAPTER XVI ALLEGIANCE TO THE POWERS THAT BE Captain Scoble was an infant in the hands of a man as powerful as the shipmaster, and he was soon made fast so that he could not move hand or foot. It was an uncomfortable position to which he had been reduced, but he had brought it all upon himself by obduracy. He howled and swore like a pirate; but nothing more was said to aggravate him, and as soon as he was securely bound to the front of the berth, the party left him to become a wiser and more docile man. “Now, Captain Belgrave, what next?” asked the captain from the Park, as he looked at Louis with a smile.