We are in their hands at present, and cannot
very well help ourselves. You shall have your revenge later, when we
have got the rascals safe below in irons."

So they had what some of them inelegantly described as "a good blow-out"
that morning in the forecastle, while we were having our own breakfast
in the cabin; and, so far as drink was concerned, Tonkin was wise enough
to see to it that, in view of their projected trip ashore, no man had
more liquor than he could conveniently carry.

And while we sat at breakfast the gentlemen who had been on deck gave us
the result of such observations as they had been able to make from the
poop, which, after all, did not amount to much, the only conclusion at
which they had arrived being that we were ashore on the inner edge of a
sandbank which had formed athwart the mouth of a river, the extent of
which could not be seen from the ship in consequence of the fact that
there were two points of land, one overlapping the other, which hid
everything beyond them. These two points, the general added, were
thickly overgrown with mangroves, and the land immediately behind was
low and densely wooded, coconut trees and palms being apparently very
plentiful, while a few miles inland the ground rose into low hills, from
the midst of which a single mountain towered into the air to a height of
some five or six thousand feet.

We were still dawdling over breakfast when we heard sounds of movement
out on deck, and presently Briggs, who had been instructed to
reconnoitre from the pantry window, which commanded a view of the main-
deck, sent word by one of the under-stewards that some of the mutineers
were getting tackles up on the fore and main yard-arms, while others
were employed in clearing out the longboat, which was stowed on the main
hatch; and a few minutes later the cook came aft with the intelligence
that he had received imperative orders to kill and roast a dozen fowls
for the men to take ashore with them, and also to make up a good-sized
parcel of cabin bread, butter, pots of jam, pickles, and a dozen bottles
of rum, in order that they might not find themselves short of creature
comforts during their absence from the ship. This seemed to point to
the fact that they intended to undertake their projected excursion in
the longboat instead of taking the two gigs--a much greater piece of
luck than I had dared to hope for,--and also suggested an intention on
their part to make a fairly lon