It is now our only means of salvation, and you wanted to steal it--to steal it like cowards! Listen attentively to what I say for the last time! This boat, belonging to the _Halbrane_, is now the _Halbrane_ herself! I am the captain of it, and let him who disobeys me, beware ?" With these last words Captain Len Guy looked at Hearne, for whom this warning was expressly meant.

The sealing-master had not appeared in the last scene, not openly at least, but nobody doubted that he had urged his comrades to make off with the boat, and that he had every intention of doing the same again.
"Now to the camp," said the captain, "and you, Dirk Peters, remain here!" The half-breed's only reply was to nod his big head and betake himself to his post.
The crew returned to the camp without the least hesitation.

Some lay down in their sleeping-places, others wandered about.

Hearne neither tried to join them nor to go near Martin Holt.
Now that the sailors were reduced to idleness, there was nothing to do except to ponder on our critical situation, and invent some means of getting out of it.
The captain, the mate, and the boatswain formed a council, and I took part in their deliberations.

Captain Len Guy began by saying,-- "We have protected our boat, and we shall continue to protect it." "Until death," declared West.
"Who knows," said I, "whether we shall not soon be forced to embark ?" "In that case," replied the captain, "as all cannot fit into it, it will be necessary to make a selection.