buttons--a seaman complete. He smiled broadly; he liked this mutineer
and ex-convict.

"Captain Calhoun, eh!" he remarked mockingly, and bowed satirically.
"Well, you've played a strong game, and you've plunged us into great
difficulty."

Dyck did not lose his opportunity. "Happily, I've done what I planned to
do when we left the Thames, admiral," he said. "We came to get the
chance of doing what, by favour of fate, we have accomplished. Now, sir,
as I'm under arrest, and the ship which I controlled has done good
service, may I beg that the Ariadne's personnel shall have amnesty, and
that I alone be made to pay--if that must be--for the mutiny at the
Nore."

The admiral nodded. "We know of your breaking away from the mutinous
fleet, and of their firing on you as you passed, and that is in your
favour. I can also say this: that bringing the ship here was masterly
work, for I understand there were no officers on the Ariadne. She always
had the reputation of being one of the best-trained ships in the navy,
and she has splendidly upheld that reputation. How did you manage it,
Mr. Calhoun?"

Dyck briefly told how the lieutenants were made, and how he himself had
been enormously indebted to Greenock, the master of the ship, and all the
subordinate officers.

The admiral smiled sourly. "I have little power until I get instructions
from the Admiralty, and that will take some time. Meanwhile, the Ariadne
shall go on as she is, and as if she were--and had been from the first, a