e," said he. "We're short of help, but we
can stand the loss of the cub better than that of the boat."

During the day the blacks below threw overboard the bodies of the
slain, having no fire wherewith to indulge their cannibalistic tastes.
One of the wounded seamen died and was consigned to the deep by his
desperate comrades.

The hours wore on until the strain of anxiety lest the blacks should
fire the ship, or renew their assaults, grew unendurable. Some
proposed a desperate charge down the gangway with cutlasses and loaded
rifles. Could they once force the blacks into the main hold, the
howitzer might again be trained on them. One fatal discharge, said
these bolder ones, would cow the negroes into submission.

But Gary, who was no coward, would not allow any such rashness. What
could seven men do against a hundred? The negroes now had a few
weapons; they had all the ammunition but what was in the magazines of
the Winchesters.

"We must wait, keep cool, and watch for a sail," said the captain. "In
rescue and in keeping these beggars below decks lies our hope."

"What will we do when our grub gives out?" asked some one.

"Die like men when the time comes, I hope," replied Gary, with grim
determination.

He was as game as he was heartless and cruel. But later on one of the
men found a demijohn of liquor in the cook's pantry. Neb, thoroughly
cowed by his uncivilized brethren below, had deserted his post and was
in hiding somewhere. The liquor was secretly hidden away, and the men
began drinking.

By the time Gary found out what was up, every one but himself and Duff
was recklessly intoxicated. He made a search for the stuff, but was
recalled by another effort of the blacks to force open one of the
hatches.

The attempt was foiled, but night had fallen before Gary found where
the liquor was hidden. He promptly broke the demijohn, and was knocked
down thereupon by one of the drunken sailors. This led to a general
melee on the quarter deck, where the row began.

The forecastle was entirely deserted by the men, who were maddened by
the destruction of their liquor. Duff used his efforts to part them,
but growing uneasy over the unguarded state of the ship, he started to
go forward.

He had hardly reached the main deck when he saw a black form leaping
out of the forecastle. The blacks, taking advantage of the fight
overhead, and the absence of a guard, had battered down the bulkhead
between the m