'And if we refuse?' said I.

'Do not say it!' he cried, sweeping his hands forward as though to repel the idea.

'There must be other conditions!' said I, talking with an air of resolution which, I fear, was but poorly simulated. 'First as to the accommodation?'

'I do not understand!' said Nakier.

'I mean, where are we to live?' I cried.

'Oh, here! oh, here!' he shouted, motioning round the cuddy; 'dis is your room. No man of us come here.'

'And here I stop, tew,' said Abraham. 'No more of your forecastle for me, mates!'

'Nor for me!' rumbled Jacob.

'Do not say so!' exclaimed Helga, turning hastily to address them. 'Be advised. Do not interfere. Let Mr. Tregarthen have his way.'

'And I suppose,' I continued, running my eyes over the rows of faces till they settled on Nakier, 'that we shall be waited upon as usual, and that we shall be as well cared for as when Captain Bunting was alive?'

'Yaas, sah! yaas, sah!' said Nakier demonstratively, and Punmeamootty shouted:

'Me wait allee same upon you and de sweet lady. Me sabbee what you like. Me get dem room ready,' pointing to the mate's and the Captain's cabins.

I shook my head with a shudder, then said softly to Helga, whose gaze was bent on the table:

'Can you suggest anything further for me to say to them?'

'Nothing. Get them to take their oath.'

'Nakier,' I exclaimed, 'we consent to your proposals. Among us we will navigate this ship for you. But first you and your mates will swear by that Koran in which you believe—I suppose it is the Koran——'

'Oh, yaas, yaas!' he cried, and there was a general chorus of 'yaases.'

'You must swear by that sacred book of yours not to harm us; to be our friends; to serve us and do our bidding as though we were the officers of this ship. Explain this to your men, and let them take the oath in their and your country's 

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