cussion when we shall all be in Davy Jones's Locker in ten minutes."
"By parity of reasoning," returned the Captain gently, "it would never be worth while to begin any inquiry of importance; the odds are always overwhelming that we must die before we shall have brought it to an end. You have not considered, Mr. Spoker, the situation of man," said the Captain, smiling and shaking his head.
"I am much more engaged in considering the position of the ship," said Mr. Spoker.
"Spoken like a good officer," replied the Captain, laying his hand on the lieutenant's shoulder.
On deck they found the men had broken into the spirit-room, and were fast getting drunk.
"My men," said the Captain, "there is no sense in this. The ship is going down, you will tell me, in ten minutes: well, and what then? To the philosophic eye, there is nothing new in our position. All our lives long, we may have been about to break a bloodvessel or to be struck by lightning, not merely in ten
