down on the top of the signal locker by its author. Those who could
not write--and there were three who could not--made their marks when
Joe signed for them.
"Whatever 'appens to this blasted 'ooker, we must keep 'old of this
log," said Joe. "For supposin' any hother disaster befell us, as
seems likely enough, and we took to the boats, it would look very bad
for us, without a single officer."
It was a cold and unhappy day for them as they drove to the
north-east, still under short canvas. But the weather broke a
little, and they set the topgallant-sails at last.
"So long as we don't pile her up on the Falklands we should do," said
the one other man on board beside Joe who seemed capable of taking
responsibility. He was from Newcastle, and was, of course, known as
Geordie. Naturally enough he and Joe divided the watches between
them, and the remainder of the crowd sheltered their uneasy minds
under their strength.
"I suppose if we bring her in we might get something extra," said
Geordie, the day they buried the captain.
But Joe took him by the arm and led him for'ard from the wheel, at
which a patient Swede stood.
"Geordie, old man, do you want to bring her in?" he asked.
"Why, yes, I suppose so," said Geordie. He stared at Joe. "What do
you mean?"
Joe broke out strangely and struck his fist upon the rail.
"I want to see 'er sink," he said savagely. "I want to see 'er go
where she's put so many good men. What right 'as we to save 'er to
do more 'arm? It ain't alone as she's drownded my chum or the
others, but she 'as a black record that ain't finished unless we
finish it. She's strong, and will go on killin' for twenty years,
Geordie. She'll make money for them as doesn't care, but what of the
likes of us?"
He was greatly moved.
"She's caulked with men's lives, and painted with their blood!" he
cried passionately. "I'd rather she sunk with me than sailed the
seas any more."
And Geordie fidgeted uneasily
"That's true, mate, but----"
"Aye," said Joe, "I know. If we scuttled 'er 'twould look bad, and
it's bad enough as it is; but 'tis a good deed, if we done it, and it
should be done, and I'll tell you 'ow to do it."
He leant upon the rail and spoke earnestly, in a low voice.
"It won't do, I own, to scuttle 'er at sea, not even if we let on she
leaked and logged it day by day. But if we sunk 'er in the Plate or
in the bay at Monte Video, 'twould do right enough, and I've a plan
for that. I made it out in the morning watch. 'Tis as easy as
eatin', and easier a deal than eatin' ship's biscuit. Down below in
the lazareet I'll bore 'oles in her, three or four, and plug 'em on
the inside, about a foot below the water-line. And I'll over the
side and plug 'em outside, then I'll draw the inside plugs. D'ye
see?"
And Geordie saw.
"You needn't know it. I can do it my lone," said Joe. "And do it I
will. If we gets off 'er safe she shan't kill no more. When we're
out of her--and none of us will stay, as you know--she'll lie at
anchor waitin' for a new crowd, and I'll come out to her in a boat
and sink the murderin' old 'ooker right there."
"There'll be a ship-keeper on her," said Geordie.
"As like as not 'e'll on'y be a Spaniard," replied Joe simply. "And
even if not----"
Even if not, one more was but one.
The next day the weather moderated, and the _Pandora_, being then, as
they reckoned, well clear of the Falklands, stood due north for Cape
Corrientes with the wind almost on the port beam. That night Joe
went down into the lazaret with an auger, and bored three holes in
her weather side.
"Good stuff and sound," he said, as he sweated over his task. "She
might 'ave floated for hever."
When he drew out his auger he found that the sea raced past the hole
and sometimes flipped water into it.
"On a level keel she'll have 'em about two foot under," he said. He
plugged that hole and bored two others. When he had plugged these,
he went on deck again. There was not a soul awake on her but Geordie
and the man at the wheel. She was going now very sweetly, and making
ten knots: they were running into fair weather. But she lay over far
enough to make it easy for Joe to go over the side, while Geordie
slacked him down from a pin in the rail.
"It's done," said Joe, as he came on board. "She'll kill no more."
It seemed to him that he was doing a good deed, for the _Pandora_ was
cruel.
And a week later, though they had sighted no land, the colour of the
water had changed curiously, and looked a little reddish. When they
drew some on board it was evidently not so salt as the sea, and they
knew they were in the flood of the mighty Plate. The airs were now
light and westerly; they hauled their wind and stood for the
north-west. But still the man on the look-out on the main-royal-yard
saw no land. In the afternoon they sighted the smoke of a steamer
heading about west by south on their starboard beam. They laid their
main-topsail to the mast and hoisted the Jack, union down.
That night they were at anchor off Monte Video, and in the morning
they told their story to the British Consul. But one and all refused
at any price and at all costs to go on board of the _Pandora_ again.
Joe spoke for all of them.
"We'll go to gaol sooner, sir," he said, as he stepped in front of
his mates, twiddling his cap nervously, "though we wishes to say so
respectfully, sir. She's a man-killer, and it's better a sight to be
in the jug, or on the beach, than to be drownded. She's killed my
own mate, and more than 'im. And so far back as hany of us ever
'eard of 'er, she's been at the same job. If you please, sir, we'd
rather go to gaol."
They slept that night ashore, but not in gaol, and next day the
owners cabled from England for a new crew to be shipped in her at any
price. But no price could induce men to go in her. And on the third
night she sank at her moorings in fifteen fathoms of water, and
carried her ship-keeper to the bottom.
"I told you she'd kill another man yet," said Geordie.
But Joe shook his head.
"I done what was right. And after all, 'e was on'y a Spaniard, as I
said."