e, and in another moment
I had two more of the men going over the side.

Miss Sackett came on deck. Her face was ruddy even in the moonlight, but
she carried herself with a firm step to the mizzen channels.

"Stand by and hold her below there," I bawled, and a man received her
into the boat. Then I called to the rest of our fellows and threw a leg
over the rail to signify that we were going. They came along, Chips last,
with Johnson at his side. The carpenter was furious and wanted to fight
it out, and it would have taken very little to have set him upon them
alone. They, however, when Andrews had been overcome, were by no means
anxious to engage. This seemed strange to me, for they certainly were men
who feared nothing, and the sooner we were out of the way, the surer they
were of getting safe off with their necks. Just what made Bell so
determined to have us go was a puzzle to me. As Chips climbed over the
rail, England came to the side with Journegan. I expected some outburst,
and for an instant the carpenter was at a disadvantage. But they let him
go over without a hostile movement. He stood up in the bow while a man
shoved off.

"Ah, ye raskils, it's like runnin' away we are, but we ain't. It's but
lavin' to th' hangman what I'd do meself, curse ye."

The boat of the _Sovereign_ towing at the quarter came abreast us as we
dropped back. Chips still standing and glaring at the ship, with rage in
his voice and eyes.

He stooped down and lifted an oar as the small boat came alongside, and
with a half-suppressed yell smote her with all his strength upon the
gunwale. The oar crashed through nearly to the water line under the power
of the stroke.

"Blast ye," he cried, "ye'll niver leave that ship alive," and he smote
the boat again and again, crushing her down until she began to fill.
Johnson took a hand also in spite of England and Journegan hauling away
at the painter. Our men backed water so hard they held her back until the
boat was hopelessly stove and had settled to the thwarts. Then we let go
and drifted away, while the men aboard the _Sovereign_ hurled
belaying-pins and gratings at us.

"A pleasant voyage to you," came the soft notes of Mr. Bell's voice; and
then we rowed slowly away to the northward, leaving the _Sovereign_ a
dark, sunken grisly thing against the moonlit sky.

"Rig the mast and sail," I said. "It's no use getting tired before the
struggle comes. We're some six hundred miles out, and may