And yet, somehow, I was not very
profoundly shocked. These were the men whom I had seen eviscerate
the shark and toss it overboard, and shout with joy as they watched
it devoured alive by its brethren. They had played a violent, cruel
game with the things of life, and the things of life now played upon
them the same violent, cruel game. As they that rise by the sword
perish by the sword, just so did these two men who had lived cruelly
die cruelly.
"Oh, well," was Mr. Pike's comment, "we've saved two sacks of mighty
good coal."
Certainly our situation might be worse. We are cooking on the coal-
stove and on the oil-burners. We have servants to cook and serve for
us. And, most important of all, we are in possession of all the food
on the Elsinore.
Mr. Pike makes no mistake. Realizing that with our crowd we cannot
rush the crowd at the other end of the ship, he accepts the siege,
which, as he says, consists of the besieged holding all food supplies
while the besiegers are on the imminent edge of famine.
"Starve the dogs," he growls.
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