Читать книгу Wrecked on Spider Island; Or, How Ned Rogers Found the Treasure онлайн

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“But he’ll talk all the same when he gets back.”

“If he ever does.”

“Then it is really murder you are thinking of!”

“Not a bit of it! We’ll simply maroon him, with plenty of grub, and trust to chance for the rest. We’ll make Spider Key for the first land, and once he is there I’ll guarantee he stays.”

“But I don’t fancy the idea of such a thing as that,” Mr. Stout replied thoughtfully. “It is different, this scuttlin’ a vessel for the purpose of doin’ the insurance companies, while to maroon a boy is very much the same as puttin’ a knife into him, and perhaps more cruel.”

“Look here, Stout, it is too late for you to be squeamish. He has heard the plan and knows you agreed to it. Once his story has been told on shore, even if we back out now and put the brig into port, the cargo can be examined, and it’s good-by for you and I. Death wouldn’t be half so bad in my eyes as ten or fifteen years in jail, and that’ll be the size of it if he’s allowed to run around with our secret.”

“I s’pose you’re right,” the mate replied with a sigh; “but it’s mighty tough for the poor little fellow, all the same.”