dishonourable
threats, between drink and dignity he scorned to make reply. The
malcontents drew together a little abaft the mast, and it was plain they
were like barnyard cocks, "crowing for courage." Presently they would be
fit for any extremity of injustice or ingratitude. Dick began to mount
by the ladder, eager to interpose; but one of the outlaws, who was also
something of a seaman, got beforehand.

"Lads," he began, "y'are right wooden heads, I think. For to get back,
by the mass, we must have an offing, must we not? And this old
Lawless----"

Some one struck the speaker on the mouth, and the next moment, as a fire
springs among dry straw, he was felled upon the deck, trampled under the
feet, and despatched by the daggers of his cowardly companions. At this
the wrath of Lawless rose and broke.

"Steer yourselves," he bellowed, with a curse; and, careless of the
result, he left the helm.

The _Good Hope_ was, at that moment, trembling on the summit of a swell.
She subsided, with sickening velocity, upon the farther side. A wave,
like a great black bulwark, hove immediately in front of her; and, with
a staggering blow, she plunged head-foremost through that liquid hill.
The green water passed right over her from stem to stern, as high as a
man's knees; the sprays ran higher than the mast; and she rose again
upon the other side, with an appalling, tremulous indecision, like a
beast that has been deadly wounded.

Six or seven of the malcontents had been carried bodily overboard; and
as for the remainder, when they found their tongues again, it was to
bellow to the saints and wail upon Lawless to come back and take the
tiller.

Nor did Lawless wait to be twice bidden. The terrible result of his
fling of just resentment sobered him completely. He knew, better than
any one on board, how nearly the _Good Hope_ had gone bodily down below
their feet; and he could tell, by the laziness with which she met the
sea, that the peril was by no means over.

Dick, who had been thrown down by the concussion and half drowned, rose
wading to his knees in the swamped well of the stern, and crept to the
old helmsman's side.

"Lawless," he said, "we do all depend on you; y'are a brave, steady man,
indeed, and crafty in the management of ships; I shall put three sure
men to watch upon your safety."

"Bootless, my master, bootless," said the steersman, peering forward
through the dark. "We come every moment somewhat clearer of t