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84 "Don't get chicken-hearted!" cried the captain angrily.

"I ain't chicken-hearted," replied Crocker. "But what's the use of taking too much risk?"

"I ain't going to risk being sent to prison for ten years or more," cried Captain Hannock, in a rising voice. "If you"

"Hush, not so loud," put in Lowell. "We don't want any of the others to know of what's going on. If they did they'd make short work of the three of us."

"Now don't you get afraid, Lowell. Reckon your row with that boy has taken the nerve out of you."

Lowell muttered something under his breath.

"I'll fix him yet," he said.

"Don't do it so openly," said Captain Hannock. "If you do, those who see it may get you into trouble."

"Leave me to manage the affair."

This last remark was followed by a brief spell of silence. What I had heard interested me greatly. These three men were plotting the destruction of the Spitfire with a view of getting the insurance on the vessel and her cargo. How it was to be done I did not know, but I surmised that they intended to either sink the vessel or burn her up; perhaps they intended to try both.