If judges could see those whom they sentence after they have endured
their punishment they would pause before passing fresh sentences upon
wrongdoers, however guilty.

I could see that Van Luck attributed to me all his misfortunes, for he
watched me closely, but when I spoke to him he shifted his gaze
uneasily, as though afraid to look me in the face. I can honestly say I
felt nothing but pity for him, and I made allowance for his animosity
toward me when I remembered his cruel punishment.

"Of a truth, Peter," said Hartog to me one evening when we sat together
in the cabin, "I had better have shot Van Luck than let him live to
become what he is. Never again will I send a man adrift upon such a
voyage, though by all the rules of the sea the mutinous dog deserved
what he got for his treachery. It was not his fault that you and I were
not marooned instead of him."

I did not answer, but had I then known the malice in Van, Luck toward
me, of which I shall hereafter tell, the compassion which I felt for
him would have been lessened.



CHAPTER XV

THE SEAWEED SEA


Of all the adventures through which we had passed, perhaps there was
none so dangerous as that which now befell us. We had shaped our course