s berth in an
instant and gave me to understand there was mutiny aboard. Together we
entered the captain's cabin.

The Jew was apprised of the situation. It was the intention of the
mate and crew to murder him and the Captain and put the vessel about
for a piratical cruise in the Indian Ocean. They were a motley gang of
foreigners, low bred and capable of any crime when led by a man like
the mate, fresh from a career of lawlessness on the China coast.

The Jew was the most abject picture of terror I ever saw. His hands
trembled and he shook like a man in a chill. He wanted to hide, but
that was useless. Captain McKenzie armed himself with a belaying pin.
He placed one in the hands of each of us boys and bade us follow him
in silence. We cautiously went on deck and we found the helm deserted,
and the mate and the entire crew sitting together and drinking in the
fore part of the ship.

Captain McKenzie sprang into their midst and with one blow from the
pin killed the mate. This subdued the others and they slunk away to
their duties. The captain then called the men in front of him and
after ordering Donovan to the helm, told them he was done with them
and that their future conduct would determine their fate. At the same
time he threatened to kill the first man that manifested a mutinous
disposition, or dared to cross a given line on the deck without his
permission. He then ordered the mate's body overboard and told the men
to return to their duties.

The Captain and Donovan took turns at the helm, while Mitchell or I
was stationed as a lookout to give instant warning of any suspicious
movements on the part of the crew. For more than a week we stood to
our posts of duty, when one morning we sailed into the smooth waters
of the port of Archangel, weary and exhausted from the intense nervous
strain and loss of sleep.

The Captain notified the British consul and a file of soldiers came
on board and arrested the crew. Six of them were afterwards sent to
prison for life.

The home voyage of the Aven was fraught with all the dangers of the
sea. We had secured another crew in Archangel but their seamanship was
bad. When a sudden storm would strike us it required herculean efforts
on the part of the captain and Donovan to prevent the ship from being
driven ashore on the rocks.

Snow was falling and a wintry wind dashed the waves over our decks and
coated the bulwarks with a mail of ice. Sleet and snow clung to the
rigging