"
They stopped and turned about.
"What have you done to Mr. Pike?" I asked.
Even the impassive Bert Rhine could not quite conceal his surprise.
"An' what have you done with Mr. Mellaire!" he retorted. "You tell
us, an' we'll tell you."
I am confident of the genuineness of his surprise. Evidently the
mutineers have been believing us guilty of the disappearance of the
second mate, just as we have been believing them guilty of the
disappearance of the first mate. The more I dwell upon it the more
it seems the proposition of the Kilkenny cats, a case of mutual
destruction on the part of the two mates.
"Another thing," I said quickly. "Where do you get your food?"
Bert Rhine laughed one of his silent laughs; Charles Davis assumed an
expression of mysteriousness and superiority; and Shorty, leaping
into view from the corner of the house, danced a jig of triumph.
I drew out my watch.
"Remember," I said, "you've ten minutes in which to make a start."
They turned and went for'ard, and, before the ten minutes were up,
all hands were aloft and stowing canvas.
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