to have been.

"Well, we hauled down, clewed up, and furled everything, by which time
the daylight had come, and we were able to get a view of our
whereabouts. So far as I could make out we seemed to have blundered
slap into the mouth of some river, and to have grounded on the inner
side of a big sandbank that had formed right athwart it at a distance of
about a quarter of a mile to seaward of the general trend of the shore
line. We couldn't have managed better if we'd picked the berth for
ourselves; for we're lyin' in perfectly smooth water, completely
sheltered from the run of the surf; and nothin' short of a stiff on-
shore gale would be at all likely to hurt us.

"The skipper said something about lightening the ship, and ordered the
bo's'un to clear away the boats and see all ready for hoistin' 'em out,
and directed me to go down into the fore-peak and rouse out all the
hawsers I could find down there, and send 'em up on deck. I was busy
upon this job, with half a dozen hands to help me, when suddenly we
heard a terrific rumpus on deck, and the sounds of pistol firing; and
when I jumped up on deck to see what all the row was about, there was
that villain Tonkin, with a pistol still smokin' in his hand, talkin' to
the men and tellin' 'em that as the ship was ashore, and the cap'n gone,
all hands were free to please themselves as to whether they'd stick to
the hooker or not, and that, for his part, he meant to have a spell
ashore for a day or two before decidin' what next to do.

"Just at that point I interrupted him by askin' what he meant by sayin'
that the cap'n was `gone'; to which he replied that the skipper had shot
himself and then jumped overboard--which I don't believe, Mr Grenvile,
not for a moment, for if I'm not very greatly mistaken I saw the
scoundrel wink at the men as he told me the yarn. And he added that,
that bein' the case, every man aboard was his own master, and free to do
as he pleased; and if I had anything to say against that, I'd better say
it then.

"And I did say it; I told him and all hands that, as to everybody now
bein' his own master, that was all nonsense; for if the skipper was
indeed dead--and it would be my business to find out just exactly how he
died--the command of the ship devolved upon me, and I intended to take
all the necessary steps to get her afloat again and to carry her to her
destination. I thought that that would settle it; but it didn't, by a
long chalk, for T