Whereupon he turned and left the captain with the same
indifferent ease that was habitual with him, and which was
more surely calculated to raise the ire of a man of Billings'
class than a torrent of invective.

So, whereas the captain might easily have been brought to
regret his hasty speech had Clayton attempted to conciliate
him, his temper was now irrevocably set in the mold in which
Clayton had left it, and the last chance of their working
together for their common good was gone.

"Well, Alice," said Clayton, as he rejoined his wife, "I might
have saved my breath. The fellow proved most ungrateful.
Fairly jumped at me like a mad dog.

"He and his blasted old ship may hang, for aught I care;
and until we are safely off the thing I shall spend my energies
in looking after our own welfare. And I rather fancy the first
step to that end should be to go to our cabin and look over
my revolvers. I am sorry now that we packed the larger guns
and the ammunition with the stuff below."

They found their quarters in a bad state of disorder. Clothing
from their open boxes and bags strewed the little apartment,
and even their beds had been torn to pieces.

"Evidently someone was more anxious about our belongings
than we," said Clayton. "Let's have a look around, Alice,
and see what's missing."