g day of it. I did not hesitate to
instruct Briggs to see to it that their supply of grog should on this
occasion be a liberal one, for the longer they remained out of the ship,
the more time we should have in which to make our preparation.

The weather was intensely hot, and the mutineers manifested no
inclination to exert themselves unduly. It was consequently almost
eleven o'clock in the forenoon ere the longboat was in the water
alongside, and another quarter of an hour was spent over the making of
the final preparations; but at length they tumbled down over the side,
one after another, with a good deal of rough horseplay, and a
considerable amount of wrangling, and pushed off. The general and three
or four of the other passengers were on the poop, smoking under the
awning--which they had been obliged to spread for themselves,--and
observing the movements of the men under the cover of a pretence of
reading; and when the longboat had disappeared the general came down to
apprise me of that fact, and also of another, namely, that the steerage
passengers Hales and Cruickshank, and two seamen, armed to the teeth
with pistols and cutlasses--the latter at least, in all probability,
taken from my men--had been left behind for the obvious purpose of
taking care of the ship and keeping us in order during the absence of
the others.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

WHAT BEFELL THE MUTINEERS.

This was rather serious news, and none the less vexatious because it did
not take me altogether by surprise. The general opinion had been that
all hands were bent upon going ashore, and that the ship would be left
at our mercy; but this had certainly not been my own view, for I could
not believe that a man of Tonkin's intelligence--realising, as he must,
the enormity of his offence in not only himself breaking into open
rebellion against lawful authority but in inciting others to do the
same--would be so rashly imprudent as to leave us free, for a period of
several hours, to release my men and to take such other steps as might
occur to us for the suppression of the mutiny. I had felt quite certain
that somebody would be left on board to keep us under supervision and
restraint, but I had calculated upon the mutineers considering two men
sufficient--and also a little, perhaps, upon the difficulty that would
be experienced in inducing more than two, at the utmost, to forego the
anticipated enjoyment of a run ashore. But here were four recklessl