f presence of mind. The
four others sat for some time rooted apparently to the floor, the most
pitiable objects of horror and utter despair my eyes ever encountered.
The only opposition we experienced at all was from the cook, John Hunt,
and Richard Parker; but they made but a feeble and irresolute defence.
The two former were shot instantly by Peters, and I felled Parker with
a blow on the head from the pump-handle which I had brought with me. In
the meantime, Augustus seized one of the muskets lying on the floor
and shot another mutineer Wilson through the breast. There were now but
three remaining; but by this time they had become aroused from their
lethargy, and perhaps began to see that a deception had been practised
upon them, for they fought with great resolution and fury, and, but for
the immense muscular strength of Peters, might have ultimately got the
better of us. These three men were--Jones, Greely, and Absolom Hicks.
Jones had thrown Augustus to the floor, stabbed him in several places
along the right arm, and would no doubt have soon dispatched him
(as neither Peters nor myself could immediately get rid of our own
antagonists), had it not been for the timely aid of a friend, upon whose
assistance we, surely, had never depended. This friend was no other than
Tiger. With a low growl, he bounded into the cabin, at a most critical
moment for Augustus, and throwing himself upon Jones, pinned him to the
floor in an instant. My friend, however, was now too much injured to
render us any aid whatever, and I was so encumbered with my disguise
that I could do but little. The dog would not leave his hold upon the
throat of Jones--Peters, nevertheless, was far more than a match for the
two men who remained, and would, no doubt, have dispatched them sooner,
had it not been for the narrow space in which he had to act, and the
tremendous lurches of the vessel. Presently he was enabled to get hold
of a heavy stool, several of which lay about the floor. With this he
beat out the brains of Greely as he was in the act of discharging a
musket at me, and immediately afterward a roll of the brig throwing
him in contact with Hicks, he seized him by the throat, and, by dint of
sheer strength, strangled him instantaneously. Thus, in far less time
than I have taken to tell it, we found ourselves masters of the brig.

The only person of our opponents who was left alive was Richard Parker.
This man, it will be remembered, I had knocke