And all the while Kipping
stood just behind the captain, smiling as if no unkind thought had ever
ruffled his placid nature. I could not help but be aware of his meanness,
and I suppose it was because I was only a boy and not given to looking
under the surface that I did not yet completely recognize in him the real
leader of all that had gone astray aboard the Island Princess.
We let ourselves be driven toward the boat. Since we were outnumbered now
eleven to six,--not counting the wounded man of course,--and since,
compared with the others, we were virtually unarmed, we ought, I suppose,
to have been thankful that we were not murdered in cold blood, as doubtless
we should have been if our dangerous plight had not so delighted Kipping's
cruel humor, and if both Falk and Kipping had not felt certain that they
would never see or hear of us again. But we found little comfort in
realizing that, as matters stood, although in our own minds we were
convinced absolutely that Captain Falk and Mr. Kipping had conspired with
the crew to rob the owners, by the cold light of fact we could be proved in
the wrong in any court of admiralty.
So far as Roger and I were concerned, our belief was based after all
chiefly on supposition; and so craftily had the whole scheme been phrased
and manoeuvred that, if you got down to categorical testimony, even
Blodgett and Davie Paine would have been hard put to it to prove anything
culpable against the other party.
Pages:
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169