ng with fury, his great hand opening and shutting in air, as
though it gasped for something to seize, turned himself about from side
to side--now here, now there, bellowing like a wounded bull. His
coarse shirt, rent from shoulder to flank, exposed the play of his huge
muscles. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, and the blood,
trickling down his face, mingled with the foam on his lips, and dropped
sluggishly on his hairy breast. Each time that an assailant came within
reach of the swinging cutlass, the ruffian's form dilated with a fresh
access of passion. At one moment bunched with clinging adversaries--his
arms, legs, and shoulders a hanging mass of human bodies--at the next,
free, desperate, alone in the midst of his foes, his hideous countenance
contorted with hate and rage, the giant seemed less a man than a demon,
or one of those monstrous and savage apes which haunt the solitudes
of the African forests. Spurning the mob who had rushed in at him, he
strode towards his risen adversary, and aimed at him one final blow that
should put an end to his tyranny for ever. A notion that Sarah Purfoy
had betrayed him, and that the handsome soldier was the cause of
the betrayal, had taken possession of his mind, and his rage had
concentrated itself upon Maurice Frere. The aspect of the villain was so
appalling, that, despite his natural courage, Frere, seeing the backward
sweep of the cutlass, absolutely closed his eyes with terror, and
surrendered himself to his fate.

As Gabbett balanced himself for the blow, the ship, which had been
rocking gently on a dull and silent sea, suddenly lurched--the convict
lost his balance, swayed, and fell. Ere he could rise he was pinioned by
twenty hands.

Authority was almost instantaneously triumphant on the upper and lower
decks. The mutiny was over.

CHAPTER XI. DISCOVERIES AND CONFESSIONS.

The shock was felt all through the vessel, and Pine, who had been
watching the ironing of the last of the mutineers, at once divined its
cause.

"Thank God!" he cried, "there's a breeze at last!" and as the
overpowered Gabbett, bruised, bleeding, and bound, was dragged down the
hatchway, the triumphant doctor hurried upon deck to find the
Malabar plunging through the whitening water under the influence of a
fifteen-knot breeze.

"Stand by to reef topsails! Away aloft, men, and furl the royals!" cries
Best from the quarter-deck; and in the midst of the cheery confusion
Maur