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Updated: August 22, 2024
I am master here, as on board ” “On board when there is no longer a ship,” muttered the sealing-master. “You are mistaken, Hearne, the vessel is there, and we will put it back into the sea. Besides, if we had only a boat, I am the captain of it. Let him beware who forgets this!” South latitude: 88° 55’. West longitude: 39° 12’. The Halbrane was only at 1° 5’ about 65 miles from the south pole.
Captain Len Guy did not seek to conceal the result of this observation, and the sailors knew enough of nautical calculation to understand it. Besides, if the consequences had to be explained to them, were not Holt and Hardy there to do this, and Hearne, to exaggerate them to the utmost? During the afternoon I had indubitable proof that the sealing-master had been working on the minds of the crew.
The latter composed a distinct group; the sealing-master was their spokesman and exercised a baneful influence over them. Captain Len Guy cast a stern glance upon the men and said in a sharp tone: “Sailors of the Halbrane, I must first speak to you of our lost companions. Five of us have just perished in this catastrophe.”
It is only fair to state that during these three days of hard work no fault was to be found with Hearne. The sealing-master knew he was being closely watched, and he was well aware that Captain Len Guy would not spare him if he tried to get up insubordination amongst his comrades.
A loud call from West brought us to a little strip of beach on the right of our stranded boat. Three corpses lay upon the stony soil, that of Hearne, that of Martin Holt, and that of one of the Falklands men. Of the thirteen who had gone with the sealing-master, there remained only these three, who had evidently been dead some days. What had become of the ten missing men?
And could it be wondered at were the sailors of the Halbrane to rebel, were they to listen to Hearne’s suggestions, and make their officers, or myself especially, responsible for the disasters of this expedition? Moreover, what was likely to take place, since, notwithstanding their losses, the followers of the sealing-master were still a majority of the ship’s company?
I had not breathed a word on the subject to anymm. To the second question no answer suggested itself; the first involved a serious issue. Did the sealing-master merely desire to gratify his enmity against Dirk Peters, the only one of the Falkland sailors who had always taken the side of Captain Len Guy, and who had prevented the seizure of the boat by Hearne and his companions?
What a difference there was between him and most of the sailors recruited at the Falklands, and especially between him and Hearne, the sealing-master! They obeyed, no doubt, for such a master as James West gets himself obeyed, whether with good or ill will. But behind backs what complaints were made, what recriminations were exchanged I All this, I feared, was of evil presage for the future.
At length the mate reappeared on deck and Hearne followed him! By a miracle, neither the bulkheads, nor the ribs, nor the planking had yielded at the place where the sealing-master was confined. Hearne rejoined his comrades without opening his lips, and we had no further trouble about him. Towards six o’clock in the morning the fog cleared off, owing to a marked fall in the temperature.
The sealing-master might possibly have ventured on an answer, for he felt that he was backed by the majority of the crew; but Martin Holt held him back, and he was silent. Captain Len Guy then took off his hat and pronounced the following words with an emotion that affected us to the bottom of our hearts:
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