bridge. Carson might get a shock but he wouldn't be particularly sorry. A brute like Captain Murdock-was better out of the way anyhow, the man in the water reflected. There was no remorse in his heart. He had never killed anyone before, and he sincerely hoped he never would again. Probably he was not to get the chance. But it wasn't murder—not murder in his eyes, that is. Of course nobody on board would believe it. Nor would anyone in any civilized court of law, in face of the evidence. He and Captain Murdock had been at daggers drawn for months. It was just natural antagonism such as springs up between natures which grate on one another. Murdock was a bully, with the temper of a fiend and the manners of a pig. Moreover he was part owner of the Four Winds, which fact he never forgot, and he took advantage of it to the full. The friction began soon after the Four Winds sailed out of New York harbour, and constant nagging, extending over many months, had only made matters worse. Several times they had quarrelled openly. While floating in the water the man remembered over-hearing a significant remark made by one of the crew.
"Either Legs or the Old Man will start shooting afore this trip ends, you mark my words." It was the boatswain who delivered the prophecy. It did not end that way, though the result came to much the same thing.
