"That is good news," said I, "and I will see that the two women are
properly rewarded for their trouble. Now let us see how we stand. How
many do the mutineers muster, all told?"

"Twenty-five, or twenty-seven if we count in Hales and Cruickshank,"
answered Carter.

"And how many do we muster on our side?" said I. "Let me just reckon
up. First of all, there are nine of my men and myself, that makes ten.
Then there is yourself, Mr Carter--eleven. What about the stewards?"

"Oh, they are all right, and so is the cook. They'll all do their work
as usual," answered Carter.

"Ay, no doubt," answered I; "but what about their fighting qualities, if
we should be obliged to resort to forcible measures with the mutineers?"

"Ah," said Carter, "if it comes to fighting, that's another matter! The
stewards are youngsters, with the exception of Briggs, the head steward,
and would stand a pretty poor chance if it came to a fight with the
forecastle hands. But Briggs--well, he's in the pantry, perhaps we'd
better call him and hear what he has to say for himself."

The head steward was a man of about thirty-five, well-built, and fairly
powerful; and upon being questioned he professed himself willing to
place himself unreservedly under my orders, and also to ascertain to
what extent we might rely upon his subordinates. That brought our
fighting force up to an even dozen, to which were speedily added the
general and Messrs. Morton, Fielder, Acutt, Boyne, Pearson, and Taylor,
all of whom professed to be eager for a scrimmage, although, in the case
of the last-mentioned five, I had a suspicion that much of their courage
had its origin in a desire to appear to advantage before Miss Duncan.
However, that brought us up to nineteen--not counting the three under-
stewards--against twenty-seven mutineers.

The next question was as to weapons. The mutineers were each of them
possessed of at least a knife, while it was known that Tonkin and some
six or seven others had one or more pistols, and it was also speedily
ascertained that they had secured all the pikes and tomahawks belonging
to the ship. Moreover, there were such formidable makeshift weapons as
capstan-bars, marline-spikes, belaying-pins, and other instruments
accessible to them at a moment's notice. If, therefore, it should come
to a hand-to-hand fight, our antagonists were likely to prove rather
formidable.

On our own side, on the other hand, I possessed a brace of