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There was an immediate response from several of the men.

“I’m for stopping, Mr. Christian.”

“It’s a snug little place. We couldn’t wish for better, sir.”

Mills was the first of the dissenting party to speak.

“It’s not my notion of a snug little place.”

“Why not?” Christian asked.

Addressed thus directly by his commanding officer, Mills shifted from one foot to the other, scowling uneasily at his companions.

“I’ve spoke my mind, Mr. Christian; it ain’t my notion of a place, and I’ll stand by that.”

“But that’s no reason, man! You must know why you’re not satisfied. What is it that you object to?”

“He’d be satisfied with no place, Mr. Christian; that’s the truth of it,” Williams, the blacksmith, put in.

“You prefer Tahiti. Is that it?” Christian asked.

“I’m not sayin’ I’d not go back if the chance was offered.”

Christian regarded him in silence for a moment.

“Listen to me, Mills,” he proceeded. “And the rest of you as well. I have spoken of this matter before. I will repeat what I’ve said, and for the last time. We are not English seamen in good standing, in our own ship, free to do as we choose and to go where we choose. We are fugitives from justice, guilty of the double crime of mutiny and piracy. That we will be searched for, as soon as the fact of the mutiny is known, is beyond question.”