There was quite a long interval of silence, and then Ned heard Mr. Stout ask:
“Have you made your preparations for scuttling her?”
“No, there wasn’t need of that until you and I had come to an understanding; and even then we don’t want to do anything until we’re off the Keys where there’ll be no very great tumbling around in the boats.”
“We’ll scuttle her from the stern. I’ve seen to it the cargo was stowed in such a manner that we can get down to her skin without any trouble. It might be a slight explosion in the forward hold—not enough to do any damage, but sufficient to start the men into a panic—would work to our advantage.”
“I don’t like it,” the chief mate said in the tone of one who is willing to be convinced; “but there’s a pleasant ring to a thousand dollars.”
“Of course there is, and your share will be even more than that.”
“It isn’t so easy to scuttle a craft as one might think, and when the job was done if some of the crew should happen to be suspicious, we’d stand a good chance of takin’ a trip to prison.”
“If anything like that should happen at the last minute it would be unlucky for the man who saw us, or thought we were up to mischief. He shouldn’t leave this craft alive. I’d rather send the whole crew to the bottom than run a risk of being caught at such a job. But take another drink Stout, an’ think over this matter till morning. There’s plenty of time to discuss it, for we’ve got at least four days before us, if not a week.”
Then the conversation ceased as the captain left the pantry, and Ned heard the mate, who had remained behind an instant, mutter to himself:
“I knew the old man was up to something, or he wouldn’t have been so sweet for the last twenty-four hours. It’s a big scheme he’s got, an’ I don’t see why it couldn’t be worked without trouble. A thousand dollars is a pile of money to a man who never had any more than I’ve got.”
This was sufficient to show Ned that the chief officer would not hesitate to assist in wrecking the brig, provided it could be done without taking too big a risk, and the boy began to wonder what would become of him if the crime was finally committed.
The captain had said that if any one on board had a suspicion the brig was deliberately scuttled, such person should never leave the craft alive.