So, whereas the captain might easily have been brought to
regret his hasty speech had Clayton attempted to conciliate
him, his temper was now irrevocably set in the mold in which
Clayton had left it, and the last chance of their working
together for their common good was gone.
"Well, Alice," said Clayton, as he rejoined his wife, "I might
have saved my breath. The fellow proved most ungrateful.
Fairly jumped at me like a mad dog.
"He and his blasted old ship may hang, for aught I care;
and until we are safely off the thing I shall spend my energies
in looking after our own welfare. And I rather fancy the first
step to that end should be to go to our cabin and look over
my revolvers. I am sorry now that we packed the larger guns
and the ammunition with the stuff below."
They found their quarters in a bad state of disorder. Clothing
from their open boxes and bags strewed the little apartment,
and even their beds had been torn to pieces.
"Evidently someone was more anxious about our belongings
than we," said Clayton. "Let's have a look around, Alice,
and see what's missing."
A thorough search revealed the fact that nothing had been
taken but Clayton's two revolvers and the small supply of
ammunition he had saved out for them.
"Those are the very things I most wish they had left us,"
said Clayton, "and the fact that they wished for them and
them alone is most sinister.
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