saving for the light filtering
through a small sky-light, and also through the ventilator, were in the
dark.

An hour later a sort of council of war was held in the captain's cabin,
and it was decided to well nail up the hatch of the cable-tier as well,
there being no dread of the men breaking out in other directions on
account of the closely-packed-in heavy cargo, much of which consisted,
as I said, of machinery--agricultural implements and the like--for the
Antipodes. Then arrangements were made as to the men being fed with
biscuit and water, just sufficient for keeping them alive, and this
starvation policy it was considered would be the means of setting the
mutineers thoroughly against their leader, with the probable result that
they would open up negotiations, and end by binding Jarette hand and
foot and delivering him up. After that, as many as the captain thought
could be trusted might be released to assist in navigating the ship, and
the rest could be kept in prison.

Mr Brymer was quite right about the weather; we sailed right through
the circular storm, and long before sunset of what proved to be a very
hot day, the ship was gently gliding up one side of a long wave, and
after pausing for a moment on the top, gliding down the other, so that
it was hard to imagine that we had just passed through so terrible a
storm.

That evening I asked Mr Frewen to take me with him when he went into
Mr Preddle's cabin to see Walters, and this resulted in his leaving me
behind to sit down by where my brother midshipman lay, looking white, or
rather grey as ashes.

I found him very stubbornly silent with the doctor, who did not seem to
think him very bad; and to all the sharp appeals to him to try and sit
up, or explain his symptoms, he only gave vent to a piteous kind of
groan which worried me a good deal, for I could not help thinking that
Mr Frewen was hard, and to put it plainly, rather brutal, to one who
had evidently gone through a great deal of suffering, and was now
completely prostrate.

But certainly it had been rather tantalising, for to everything there
was this piteous groan.

"Put out your tongue," said Mr Frewen.

"Oh!"

"Well, open your eyes."

"Oh!"--long drawn out, and strange.

"Surely that does not hurt you, my lad. I want to do you good if I
can."

"Oh!"

"Are you in pain?"

"Oh!"

"Does that hurt you?"

"Oh!"

"Can you feel it if I press your chest?"

"Oh!"

"Stand a little