CHAPTER XXIX
THE BURNING OF THE WRECK
"When Lesher and Baxter got back to where they left us they were very
bitter against you," began Gibson. "They told us that you had tried
to make them work like niggers, fixing up this house. They said that
they wanted to come right back and bring us here, but you wouldn't
let them go until the house was finished."
"Which is not true, as all of us here know," said Captain Blossom.
"Lesher also said that you were angry at us for leaving the ship
before the rest, and that you had said you would have us all tried
for mutiny the first chance you got. Baxter said the same, and also
told us that you were going to dump all the rum and other liquor into
the ocean, so that the mate and none of the others could get a drop
of it while they stayed on the islands."
"I didn't say that, but I did say that Lesher Shouldn't have all he
wanted," replied the captain.
"This sort of talk made most of the sailors wild," went on Gibson.
"Then Lesher made a speech to them, and they voted to stick by him
through thick and thin and not let you rule them. He promised them
all the liquor they wanted, and told them that if they stuck by him
the whole lot could swear in court that they had found the wreck
deserted, so that they could get whatever was coming in the way of
salvage. Then he handed around some liquor he had brought along, and
some pistols, and most of them said they would stick to him, as I
said before.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182