expressed intention of ascertaining how the
land lay. He was absent about a quarter of an hour; and on his return
he informed us in horrified accents that, out of all the officers of the
ship, there remained alive only Mr Southcott the master, the gunner,
the carpenter, Courtenay, myself--and Farmer, the master's mate, who, it
appeared, had taken a leading part in the mutiny, and had been elected
to the command of the ship. It was evident, from the scared and
horrified appearance and manner of our informant, that he had never
anticipated any of this awful violence and bloodshed, though he frankly
admitted that he had been a consenting party to the mutiny--the general
understanding being that the officers were all to be secured in the
first instance, and afterwards handed over as prisoners to the enemy--
and he hurriedly explained to us that, for his own safety's sake, it
would now be necessary for him to leave us and join the rest of the
mutineers without delay, but that he would return to us as soon as he
possibly could; and that, in the meantime, we were on no account to
leave the berth, or our lives would certainly be sacrificed.

After hearing such statements as these, no further warning was needed to
keep us two unhappy mids close prisoners for the rest of the night.
Further sleep was of course quite out of the question; so we hastily
dressed, and, closing the door of the berth, seated ourselves on a sea-
chest, where we passed the remainder of the night discussing the awful
tragedy which had so suddenly been enacted, comparing notes as to our
mutual forebodings of some such disaster, and, lastly, wondering what
would be the ultimate fate of ourselves and the few other surviving
officers.

At length, after what appeared to be a very eternity of suspense and
anxiety, steps were heard approaching the berth; and, upon our throwing
open the door, Sykes, somewhat the worse for liquor, made his
appearance, hailing us, in tones of obviously forced joviality, with:

"Well, what cheer, my fighting cocks--my bully bantams? How goes it?
Hope your honours has passed a comfortable night," with a ghastly grin
at his own facetiousness. Then, with considerably more seriousness of
manner, he continued:

"Well, young uns, Farmer--or _Mister_ Farmer, I should say--has been
axing arter you, and his instructions am that you may now go 'pon deck.
But--hark 'e, my bullies, keep your weather eyes a-liftin' and a stopper
upon your