But he dared not let Momulla slay the Swede, upon whom they depended
to guide them to their destination. They decided, however, that
it would do no harm to attempt to frighten Gust into acceding to
their demands, and with this purpose in mind the Maori sought out
the self-constituted commander of the party.
When he broached the subject of immediate departure Gust again
raised his former objection--that the warship might very probably
be patrolling the sea directly in their southern path, waiting for
them to make the attempt to reach other waters.
Momulla scoffed at the fears of his fellow, pointing out that as
no one aboard any warship knew of their mutiny there could be no
reason why they should be suspected.
"Ah!" exclaimed Gust, "there is where you are wrong. There is
where you are lucky that you have an educated man like me to tell
you what to do. You are an ignorant savage, Momulla, and so you
know nothing of wireless."
The Maori leaped to his feet and laid his hand upon the hilt of
his knife.
"I am no savage," he shouted.
"I was only joking," the Swede hastened to explain. "We are old
friends, Momulla; we cannot afford to quarrel, at least not while
old Kai Shang is plotting to steal all the pearls from us. If
he could find a man to navigate the Cowrie he would leave us in a
minute.
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