Then this same one came forward and the captain recognized the dapper figure of Job.
"Well, captain," he said, speaking in a low, clear tone, and without a particle of fear, "you've spotted our little game, it seems, and for us at a most orkard moment. What be you going to do?"
"I saw you the other night," said the captain, "and in this disguise."
It was an anxious moment for the captain.
There was a queer twinkle in his light gray eyes. Had they seen the whole of that secret drawer business?
The captain endeavored to discover by a question.
"If I had been a moment sooner I should have caught you," he said. "As it was, you took me by surprise. However, I have you to-night, all of you. Ay, you need not look so fierce, my boys; I have you all, and you know it. I can name you one by one, from Job there to Tommy Lawn. Keep back. There are six barrels here, and all loaded. If you think to frighten me, you are much mistaken. You are also self-deceived if you imagine that I shall consent to be catechised as to my intentions."
"Come, come," said Job, "don't be unreasonable, captain. We're twenty and more to one. What's to prevent us from giving you an inch of lead and sending you across the main in the ship that's at anchor yonder? Many a man has been put away quietly and none the wiser."
"I'll tell you," he said; "because you all know the difference between murder and smuggling, and because there's no necessity to kill a man who means you no harm."
"No harm," said Job, coolly. "They're fine words, captain, but what do they mean? Give us your word as a gentleman that you won't split."
"I will do more," said the captain, slowly and with quiet deliberation. "I will join you."
The men looked at each other half incredulously.
Job alone remained, with his hand on his hip, calm and unmoved.
"You will join us?" he said. "On you honor?"
"As a gentleman," said Captain Howard Murpoint, with fine irony. "If you want to feel secure, show me how I can be a gainer by the enterprise, and you may feel perfectly certain that I shall remain faithful. If you mean to test me, you can do so at once."
"You say," returned the captain, "that a cargo waits running home. I'll help you to clear it. I shall have become an accomplice, a participator in the offense, and what peril you run I shall share in."