d be all the safer if she were relieved of the
weight of even one of you, while there is plenty of room in the gig, and
she is just as safe as the longboat. I suppose I need not tell you that
Temple is an excellent seaman and navigator, while the gig is the faster
boat of the two and will probably arrive at least a couple of days ahead
of us."

A pause of a few seconds' duration followed this appeal, and then a Mr
Cunningham--who happened to be the only unattached male passenger among
the party--arose and said:

"If you consider the change desirable I shall be very pleased to go in
the gig; in fact, I am the only male passenger who has no `encumbrance'
with him in the shape of wife or child, therefore it will make no
difference at all to me which boat I happen to be in."

"That being the case, we will make the exchange at once, and then you,
Temple, had better make sail and get over the ground as fast as you
can," said Mr Bligh.

And therewith the gig was hauled up close alongside the longboat and the
transfer at once effected, Mr Johnson turning over to the bigger boat
while the boatswain and Mr Cunningham joined us in the gig. The
transfer was not a lengthy process, for Bainbridge had not permitted any
of us to bring away any of our belongings, and at that moment the
richest of us had only what he or she happened to be wearing in the way
of clothing. Then, as the chief mate cast off our painter and thrust
the two boats apart, he said:

"Make sail, Temple, and crack on for all you are worth. And, as soon as
you get in, report the mutiny, get the British Consul to send out a tug
or something, with provisions and water, to look for us; and see that he
reports the matter at once to the nearest naval station within reach, so
that the men-o'-war may be dispatched to seek the _Zenobia_, and get
hold of her before she has time to do very much mischief. And don't
forget that your course is west and by no'th--or, as near as may be, in
the eye of the setting sun when he reaches the horizon. Goodbye, and a
quick passage to you!"

"Goodbye, sir," I returned; "and the same to you! I trust that the
doctor will be able to put the captain on his feet again by the time
that you get in. I will remember all your instructions, and lose not a
moment in carrying them out directly we arrive. Goodbye, all! Hoist
away, bos'n; and, Simpson, boom out the sheet with that boathook."

The sun was by this time within ten minutes of