with them I should have got the men to do anything? Not it! The
bo's'n perhaps? Perhaps! It wasn't a heavy sea - it was a sea

gone mad! I suppose the end of the world will be something like
that; and a man may have the heart to see it coming once and be

done with it - but to have to face it day after day - I don't blame
anybody. I was precious little better than the rest. Only - I was

an officer of that old coal-waggon, anyhow - "
"I quite understand," I conveyed that sincereassurance into his

ear. He was out of breath with whispering; I could hear him pant
slightly. It was all very simple. The same strung-up force which

had given twenty-four men a chance, at least, for their lives, had,
in a sort of recoil, crushed an unworthy mutinous existence.

But I had no leisure to weigh the merits of the matter - footsteps
in the saloon, a heavy knock. "There's enough wind to get under

way with, sir." Here was the call of a new claim upon my thoughts
and even upon my feelings.

"Turn the hands up," I cried through the door. "I'll be on deck
directly."

I was going out to make the acquaintance of my ship. Before I left
the cabin our eyes met - the eyes of the only two strangers on

board. I pointed to the recessed part where the little camp-stool
awaited him and laid my finger on my lips. He made a gesture -

somewhat vague - a little mysterious, accompanied by a faint smile,
as if of regret.

This is not the place to enlarge upon the sensations of a man who
feels for the first time a ship move under his feet to his own

independent word. In my case they were not unalloyed. I was not
wholly alone with my command; for there was that stranger in my

cabin. Or rather, I was not completely and wholly with her. Part
of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two places at

once affected me physically as if the mood of secrecy had
penetrated my very soul. Before an hour had elapsed since the ship

had begun to move, having occasion to ask the mate (he stood by my
side) to take a compassbearing of the Pagoda, I caught myself

reaching up to his ear in whispers. I say I caught myself, but
enough had escaped to startle the man. I can't describe it

otherwise than by saying that he shied. A grave, preoccupied
manner, as though he were in possession of some perplexing

intelligence, did not leave him henceforth. A little later I moved
away from the rail to look at the compass with such a stealthy gait

that the helmsman noticed it - and I could not help noticing the
unusual roundness of his eyes. These are trifling instances,

though it's to no commander's advantage to be suspected of
ludicrous eccentricities. But I was also more seriouslyaffected.

There are to a seaman certain words, gestures, that should in given
conditions come as naturally, as instinctively as the winking of a

menaced eye. A certain order should spring on to his lips without
thinking; a certain sign should get itself made, so to speak,

without reflection. But all unconscious alertness had abandoned
me. I had to make an effort of will to recall myself back (from

the cabin) to the conditions of the moment. I felt that I was
appearing an irresolute commander to those people who were watching

me more or less critically.
And, besides, there were the scares. On the second day out, for

instance, coming off the deck in the afternoon (I had straw
slippers on my bare feet) I stopped at the open pantry door and

spoke to the steward. He was doing something there with his back
to me. At the sound of my voice he nearly jumped out of his skin,

as the saying is, and incidentally broke a cup.
"What on earth's the matter with you?" I asked, astonished.

He was extremely confused. "Beg your pardon, sir. I made sure you
were in your cabin."

"You see I wasn't."
"No, sir. I could have sworn I had heard you moving in there not a

moment ago. It's most extraordinary . . . very sorry, sir."
I passed on with an inwardshudder. I was so identified with my

secret double that I did not even mention the fact in those scanty,
fearful whispers we exchanged. I suppose he had made some slight

noise of some kind or other. It would have been miraculous if he
hadn't at one time or another. And yet, haggard as he appeared, he

looked always perfectly self-controlled, more than calm - almost
invulnerable. On my suggestion he remained almost entirely in the

bathroom, which, upon the whole, was the safest place. There could
be really no shadow of an excuse for any one ever wanting to go in

there, once the steward had done with it. It was a very tiny
place. Sometimes he reclined on the floor, his legs bent, his head

sustained on one elbow. At others I would find him on the camp-
stool, sitting in his grey sleeping-suit and with his cropped dark

hair like a patient, unmovedconvict. At night I would smuggle him
into my bed-place, and we would whisper together, with the regular

footfalls of the officer of the watch passing and repassing over
our heads. It was an infinitelymiserable time. It was lucky that

some tins of fine preserves were stowed in a locker in my
stateroom; hard bread I could always get hold of; and so he lived

on stewed chicken, pate de foie gras, asparagus, cooked oysters,
sardines - on all sorts of abominable sham delicacies out of tins.

My early morning coffee he always drank; and it was all I dared do
for him in that respect.

Every day there was the horrible manoeuvring to go through so that
my room and then the bath-room should be done in the usual way. I

came to hate the sight of the steward, to abhor the voice of that
harmless man. I felt that it was he who would bring on the

disaster of discovery. It hung like a sword over our heads.
The fourth day out, I think (we were then working down the east

side of the Gulf of Siam, tack for tack, in light winds and smooth
water) - the fourth day, I say, of this miserable juggling with the

unavoidable, as we sat at our evening meal, that man, whose
slightest movement I dreaded, after putting down the dishes ran up

on deck busily. This could not be dangerous. Presently he came
down again; and then it appeared that he had remembered a coat of

mine which I had thrown over a rail to dry after having been wetted
in a shower which had passed over the ship in the afternoon.

Sitting stolidly at the head of the table I became terrified at the
sight of the garment on his arm. Of course he made for my door.

There was no time to lose.
"Steward," I thundered. My nerves were so shaken that I could not

govern my voice and conceal my agitation. This was the sort of
thing that made my terrifically whiskered mate tap his forehead

with his forefinger. I had detected him using that gesture while
talking on deck with a confidential air to the carpenter. It was

too far to hear a word, but I had no doubt that this pantomime
could only refer to the strange new captain.

"Yes, sir," the pale-faced steward turned resignedly to me. It was
this maddening course of being shouted at, checked without rhyme or

reason, arbitrarily chased out of my cabin, suddenly called into
it, sent flying out of his pantry on incomprehensible errands, that

accounted for the growing wretchedness of his expression.
"Where are you going with that coat?"

"To your room, sir."
"Is there another shower coming?"

"I'm sure I don't know, sir. Shall I go up again and see, sir?"
"No! never mind."

My object was attained, as of course my other self in there would
have heard everything that passed. During this interlude my two

officers never raised their eyes off their respective plates; but
the lip of that confounded cub, the second mate, quivered visibly.

I expected the steward to hook my coat on and come out at once. He
was very slow about it; but I dominated my nervousness sufficiently

not to shout after him. Suddenly I became aware (it could be heard
plainly enough) that the fellow for some reason or other was

opening the door of the bath-room. It was the end. The place was
literally not big enough to swing a cat in. My voice died in my

throat and I went stony all over. I expected to hear a yell of
surprise and terror, and made a movement, but had not the strength

to get on my legs. Everything remained still. Had my second self
taken the poor wretch by the throat? I don't know what I would