"Just at that point I interrupted him by askin' what he meant by sayin' that the cap'n was `gone'; to which he replied that the skipper had shot himself and then jumped overboard--which I don't believe, Mr Grenvile, not for a moment, for if I'm not very greatly mistaken I saw the scoundrel wink at the men as he told me the yarn.  And he added that, that bein' the case, every man aboard was his own master, and free to do as he pleased; and if I had anything to say against that, I'd better say it then.