t
in his hand an iron bar; for he had no other weapon. At the sight of
him, we had backed to the foot of the stairway; and, as the man crept
down, we lay still, so that you could hear every quiver of the glass
upon the table of the saloon; and we watched the fellow drop step by
step until he was quite close to us in the dark, and his breath was hot
upon us. Swiftly then and silently he entered the place; and, going to
my cabin door, he slipped a wedge under it, serving the other doors
around the big cabin in the same way. The success seemed to please him;
he chuckled softly, and came again to the ladder, where, with a quick
motion, Dan brought his pistol-butt (for I had armed him) full upon the
fellow's forehead, and he went down like a dead thing at the foot of
the swinging table.

There we left him, after we had bound his hands with my scarf; and with
a hurried knock got Roderick from his berth. He, in turn, aroused his
sister, and in five minutes we all stood in the big saloon and
discussed our plan.

Dan's whispered tale was this. The watch was Paolo's, who had persuaded
four stokers and six of the forward hands to his opinion. These men,
the dupes of the second officer, had determined on this much--that the
voyage to New York should be stopped abruptly, come what might, and
that our intent should go for nothing. We, being locked in our cabins,
were to have no voice in the affair; or, if waked, then we should be
knocked on the head, and so quieted to reason.

It was a desperate endeavour, wrought of fear; but at that moment the
true hands of the fo'castle were battened down, and Dan, who had seen
the thing coming, escaped only by his foresight. That night he had felt
danger, and had wrapped himself up in a tarpaulin, and lain concealed
on deck.

As it was, Paolo stood at the door of the skipper's room; there were
three men guarding the fo'castle, and five at the foot of the hurricane
deck. One man we had settled with; but we were three, and eight men
stood between us and the true hands.

Roderick was the first to get his wits, and plan a course.

"We must act now," he said, "before they miss their man. They've
stopped the engines, and we shall drop behind the others. There's only
one chance, and that is to surprise them. Let's rush it and take the
odds."

"You can't rush it," I replied; "they're looking for that; and if one
now went forward they would shoot him down straight--and what's to
follow? They com