BRINGING MR. TOWNSEND BACK AGAIN. 65 



to chase him till the end of time. He didn't care 

 what it cost. Hed get even with that cussed 

 young beach-comber if he had to die for it, and 

 all the rest of us along with him. He'd rather 

 get a good fierce grip on Ed. Townsend than try 

 out the last sperm whale in the South Pacific — 

 he'd be blowed if he wouldn't ! 



But, as on former occasions, we saw the gale 

 blow by. The worse the old man raged the 

 sooner he would calm down. And when the 

 tempest was over, all that remained of the case 

 against Townsend was a sincere desire, with 

 a proportionate determination, to recover the 

 services of so good a sailor. 



So the next day we stood in to another bay, 

 about four miles to the leeward of the place that 

 had witnessed Townsend's escape. There, unable 

 to drop our mud-hook, we lay off and on. 



We had not been long in the bay before a canoe 

 came off with a white man and two natives. That 

 was just the very thing the old man wanted. He 

 received the visitors with eager welcome, invited 

 them into the cabin, ordered drinks for four, and 

 dismissed the steward, warning him to shut the 

 door tight behind him. 



The quartette remained in solemn executive 

 session for half an hour. Then the cabin door 



