ny's knee thudded into his chest and ended the sentence as a bullet
sent a splinter flying from under the captain's foot.

"Hang these guns!" Johnny swore, and quickly turned to secure the gag
in the mouth of the offending second mate. "You make any more yaps like
that an' I'll wing you for keeps with yore own gun!" he snapped. "We're
caught in yore trap an' we'll fight to a finish. You'll be the first to
go under if you gets any smart."

"Ahoy, men!" roared the captain in a towering rage, dancing frantically
about on the deck and shouting for the crew to join him. He filled the
air with picturesque profanity and stamped and yelled in passion at such
rank mutiny.

"Hand grenades! Hand grenades!" he cried. Then he remembered that his
two mates were also below and would share in the mutineers' fate, and
his rage increased at his galling helplessness. When he had calmed
sufficiently to think clearly he realized that it was certain death for
any one to attempt going down the ladder, and that his must be a waiting
game. He glanced at his crew, thirteen good men, all armed with windlass
bars and belaying pins, and gave them orders. Two were to watch the
hatch and break the first head to appear, while the others returned to
work. Hunger and thirst would do the rest. And what joy would be his
when they were forced to surrender!

Hopalong groped his way slowly towards the patch of light, barking his
shins, stumbling and falling over the barrels and crates and finally,
losing his footing at a critical moment, tumbled down upon a box marked
"Cotton." There was a splintering crash and the very faint clink of
metal. Dazed and bruised, he sat up and felt of himself--and found that
he had lost his gun in the fall.

"Now, where in blazes did it fly to?" he muttered angrily, peering
about anxiously. His eyes suddenly opened their widest and he stared in
surprise at a field gun which covered him; and then he saw parts of two
more.

"Good Lord! Is this a gunboat?" he cried. "Are we up against bluejackets
an' Uncle Sam?" He glanced quickly back the way he had come when he
heard Johnny's shot, but he could see nothing. He figured that Johnny
had sense enough to call for help if he needed it, and put that
possibility out of his mind. "Naw, this ain't no gunboat--the Government
don't steal men; it enlists 'em. But it's a funny pile of junk, all the
same. Where in blazes is that toy gun? _Well_, I'll be hanged!" and he
plunged toward th