the raft.

And now, at the very moment when it was most necessary that the crew
should preserve an orderly and obedient disposition, they suddenly broke
into open mutiny, flatly refusing to work any longer at the pumps;
declaring that the ship was good for at least another hour, and that
before that had passed we should all be safely away from her; that there
was no sense in wanting to keep the ship afloat longer than there was
any absolute need for; and that the time had now arrived when they must
begin to think of saving their own personal belongings. When I
attempted to remonstrate with them and point out the folly of their
behaviour they became virulently abusive, and declared that if I wanted
the pumps kept going I might keep them going myself--and this although I
had already done considerably more than my fair share of that back-
breaking labour. Therewith they abandoned the pumps and betook
themselves forward to the forecastle, from which there shortly afterward
came floating to my horrified ears loud peals of maudlin laughter,
mingled with snatches of ribald songs and coarse jests, whereby I came
to know, all too late, that, while getting up the provisions from below,
some of them must have broken into the spirit-room and possessed
themselves of a very considerable supply of rum, upon which they were
now fast drinking themselves into a condition of reckless indifference
to the awful danger that threatened them. Anything, I thought, was
better than this; therefore, having first gone down below and brought up
the chronometer, my sextant, and a chart of the Atlantic, and stowed the
whole carefully in the stern-sheets of the longboat, loaded my pistols,
and girded my sword to my side, I went forward to the fore-scuttle and,
putting my head into it, shouted in as cheery a tone as I could summon:

"Now then, lads, tumble up on deck, all hands of you. We have still a
great deal to do, and very little time to do it in; therefore let us see
about getting the longboat into the water, and the raft over the side.
There will be time enough to rest when we are safe away from the wreck."

"All ri', schipper, don' you worry," bawled a great hulking Dutchman in
reply. "Dere's blendy of dime yet; and ve're nod going do move undil
ve've vinished dhis grog."

Then another--an American this time--took up the tale, shouting, "Go
'way, little man, go 'way! Wha' d'you mean, anyway, by comin' here and
disturbin' gen'lemen when