place him under arrest.

I put my hand on his shoulder, and I guess that my voice
trembled a trifle as, while reproving him for his act, I
made it plain to him that my gratitude was no less potent a
force than his loyalty to me. Then it was that I outlined
to him my purpose to defy the regulation that had raised the
dead lines, and to take my ship back to New York myself.

I did not ask him to share the responsibility with me. I
merely stated that I should refuse to submit to arrest, and
that I should demand of him and every other officer and man
implicit obedience to my every command until we docked at
home.

His face brightened at my words, and he assured me that I
would find him as ready to acknowledge my command upon the
wrong side of thirty as upon the right, an assurance which I
hastened to tell him I did not need.

The storm continued to rage for three days, and as far as
the wind scarce varied a point during all that time, I knew
that we must be far beyond thirty, drifting rapidly east by
south. All this time it had been impossible to work upon
the damaged engines or the gravity-screen generators; but we
had a full set of instruments upon the bridge, for Alvarez,
after discovering my intentions, had fetched the reserve
instruments from his own cabin, where he had hidden them.
Those which Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third
set which only Alvarez had known was aboard the Coldwater.