"
The officers and men of the Halfmoon, in so far as those
on board the Lotus could guess, had all entered the boats at
last, and were pulling frantically away from their own ship
toward the rapidly nearing yacht; but what they did not guess
and could not know was that Mr. Divine paced nervously to
and fro in his cabin, while Second Officer Theriere tended the
smoking rags that Ward and Blanco had resigned to him that
they might take their places in the boats.
Theriere had been greatly disgusted with the turn events
had taken for he had determined upon a line of action that he
felt sure would prove highly remunerative to himself. It had
been nothing less than a bold resolve to call Blanco, Byrne,
"Bony," and "Red" to his side the moment Simms and Ward
revealed the true purpose of their ruse to those on board the
Lotus, and with his henchmen take sides with the men of the
yacht against his former companions.
As he had explained it to Billy Byrne the idea was to
permit Mr. Harding to believe that Theriere and his companions
had been duped by Skipper Simms--that they had had
no idea of the work that they were to be called upon to
perform until the last moment and that then they had done
the only thing they could to protect the passengers and crew
of the Lotus.
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