He very soon saw that this plan would not work, and the next resolve he made was, that he would visit the fisher-boy after the band had gone home, and offer to release him if he would promise that he would not say a word about Tom's being a member of the society, and that he would put no obstacles in the way of the governor to prevent him from seizing the yacht and leaving the village. By this arrangement, he could be revenged upon the teachers of the academy, and upon the new officers of the Storm King, and no one would suspect that he had had any thing to do with the matter. It was by no means certain that this plan would have worked, had it been put to the test, but still the new member had decided to try it, when the chief's offer drove all these ideas out of his head.
"What do you say, Muley?" asked Sam. "Will you take it?"
"I will," replied Tom, eagerly. "I am glad to see that you have come to your senses. I didn't think you would be foolish enough to try to take the vessel to sea yourself. You would very soon have got us into trouble, for it needs somebody who understands the winds and currents to fill so responsible a position. I'll take it, if you will call me captain hereafter. I never did like that other name."
"It's a bargain," said the governor. "Now, listen, men," he added, turning to the band. "Muley's name is changed to cap'n. He is to be master of the vessel when we get her, an' he is the second officer in the band till we reach our island."
The boys raised no objections to this arrangement; in fact, they were delighted with it; for they had been convinced, by what their prisoner had said, that they could not proceed very far on the journey toward their island without some competent person to take command of the vessel; and as they knew that Tom had been on a six months' voyage, and that he had been second in command of the sloop, during the cruise of the Night-hawks, they thought he was just the very man they wanted.
"Now, then," said the chief, after all the articles that comprised their outfit, except the guns, had been packed away in the dry goods boxes, "that's all we can do to-night. We'll keep the guns out, to scare them 'cademy fellers. When we board the yacht we'll have a gun, cocked an' capped, in one hand, an' a spear in the other, an' we'll make 'em believe that if they raise any fuss, or show fight, we'll shoot 'em down. But the spears are what we'll have to depend on. The meetin's out, now."