"They only want to keep me a prisoner," said the midshipman half an hour after, as he sat with his mouth full, steadily eating away as a boy of seventeen can eat--"a prisoner till they've got all their stuff safe away.

They dare not hurt me.

I'm not afraid of that, and it's a very strange thing if I can't prove myself as clever as that cunning young scoundrel who trapped me here.

At all events, I'll try.

They dare not starve me: not they.