ch considerations demanded the wholesale clubbing with heavers and
handspikes which the men got from the trio. Belaying pins were not
used--they were too small and light for the gentlemen. Macklin had four
deadly enemies when he went aft, and soon every man forward had a
grievance, and voiced it in muttered profanity that held many a threat
of death. I fancy that it was my presence in the forecastle that
inspired all this ill treatment; no doubt I was regarded as a bad
example, whose influence over the men must be offset by stern,
repressive measures, but whom they would not remove because of their
dislike of the law. For the law could reach a skipper or mate, as
Macklin well knew.

"And the crew? Never was a wild, half-crazy herd of Liverpool Irishmen
kept under control as that crowd was by a bad example. While aft I had
treated them well, and they liked me for my scrap with Macklin; so,
they listened while I counseled submission and avoidance of legal
consequences--which last was the only point I made. They feared neither
man, God, nor devil; but they did fear the law, and grew quiet when I
talked of jail and the gallows. And this fear possibly accounted for my
finding my pistol--a newly invented Colt revolver--lying in my bunk,
one morning when I came in from a long night's lookout to get my
breakfast.

"'Who put this here?' I demanded. 'Who had my gun?'

"No one would acknowledge the gift; but the state of mind behind it was
given in the remark of one, 'Now ye've got it again, use it!'

"I tucked it under my mattress, resolved not to use it; but a little
later put it into my trousers pocket. Fear of the law, forward and aft,
began to yield to fear of death. Men openly sharpened their knives, and
the afterguard ostentatiously showed their pistols. Their pistols were
not so good as mine--they were double-barreled, muzzle-loading
derringers, with only two shots.

"Things culminated on a moonlight night when we were charging along
before a quartering whole sail breeze, making, I should judge, about
eleven knots. I was on lookout, as usual, and keeping a good one I
know, even though my eyes would half close at times from sheer need of
sleep. It was about seven bells of the first watch and for some reason
or other--perhaps the strong moonlight, which keeps some people
awake--both the skipper and the first mate were on deck, and standing
aft near the wheel, while Mr. Parker stood his watch on the poop
forward of the