run the schooner ashore among rocks and drown the slaves
while below. At the same time, I gave each a cutlass from the
arm-chest, and supplying my trusty whites with a couple of pistols and
a knife apiece, without saying a word, I seized the ringleader and his
colleagues! Irons and double-irons secured the party to the mainmast
or deck, while a drum-head court-martial, composed of the officers,
and presided over by myself, arraigned and tried the scoundrels in
much less time than regular boards ordinarily spend in such
investigations. During the inquiry, we ascertained beyond doubt that
the death of the mate was due to false play. He had been wilfully
murdered, as a preliminary to the assault on me, for his colossal
stature and powerful muscles would have made him a dangerous adversary
in the seizure of the craft.

There was, perhaps, a touch of the old-fashioned Inquisition in the
mode of our judicial researches concerning this projected mutiny. We
proceeded very much by way of "confession," and, whenever the culprit
manifested reluctance or hesitation, his memory was stimulated by a
"cat." Accordingly, at the end of the trial, the mutineers were
already pretty well punished; so that we sentenced the six accomplices
to receive an additional flagellation, and continue ironed till we
reached Cuba. But the fate of the ringleader was not decided so
easily. Some were in favor of dropping him overboard, as he had done
with the mate; others proposed to set him adrift on a raft, ballasted
with chains; but I considered both these punishments too cruel,
notwithstanding his treachery, and kept his head beneath the pistol of
a sentry till I landed him in shackles on Turtle Island, with three
days food and abundance of water.

FOOTNOTE:

[4] The forecastle and cabin of a slaver are given up to the living
freight, while officers sleep on deck in kennels, technically known as
"dog-houses."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

After all these adventures, I was very near losing the schooner before
I got to land, by one of the perils of the sea, for which I blame
myself that I was not better prepared.

It was the afternoon of a fine day. For some time, I had noticed on
the horizon a low bank of white cloud, which rapidly spread itself
over the sky and water, surrounding us with an impenetrable fog. I
apprehended danger; yet, before I could make the schooner snug to meet
the squall, a blast--as sudden and loud as a thunderbolt--prostrated