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"So you experienced the same circumstances as the Bounty mutineers on Pitcairn Island"

"Exactly I knew there would soon be trouble, and I designed a schedule for the wo the , of course, especially the women But I knew of no other way to prevent bloodshed"

"Under the circuree with you"

"All I succeeded in doing was hastening the inevitable The convict John Winkleman murdered able-seaman Reed over Marion Adams, and Jess Dorsett refused to share Betsy Fletcher with anyone

When George Pryor attempted to rape Fletcher, Dorsett beat his brains in with a rock"

"And then you were six"

Scaggs nodded "Tranquility finally reigned on the island when John Winkleman married Marion Adams and Jess married Betsy"

"Married?" Carlisle snorted in righteous indignation "Hoas that possible?"

"Have you forgotten, Abner?" Scaggs said with a grin cracking his thin lips "As a ship's captain I was empowered to perform the ceremony"

"By not actually standing on the deck of your ship, I must say you stretched matters a bit"

"I have no regrets We all lived in harmony until ship's carpenter Thomas Cochran and I sailed away"

"Did you and Cochran not have desire for the women?"

Scaggs' laughter turned into a brief coughing spell Carlisle gave his said, "Whenever hts became carnal, I envisioned my sife, Lucy I vowed to her that I would always return froe as chaste as I left"

"And the carpenter?"

'Cochran, as fate would have it, preferred the company of men"