at broke
tremblingly against them, as if afraid of this strange object from
another world that could rest upon the bottom of the ocean and yet be so
far above them.

Reported "Lost with all on board!"

CHAPTER VIII.

Captain Trigger and a dozen men stood on the boat deck with guns and
revolvers, facing several hundred sullen, determined men and women
from the steerage. Night had not yet fallen; the shadow of the hills,
however, was reaching half way across the oval pool; gloom impenetrable
had settled on the wooded shores.

With the striking of the Doraine, nearly every one on board was hurled
to the decks. As she heeled over five or six degrees in settling
herself among the rocks, a panic ensued among the ignorant people of the
steerage. They scrambled to their feet and made a rush for the boats,
shouting and screaming in their terror. Other passengers were trampled
under foot and sailors standing by the davits were hurled aside.

Captain Trigger, anticipating just such a stampede, rushed up with
members of the gun crew. The gaunt, broken old master of the Doraine
drove the horde back from the boats, but as he stood there haranguing
them in good maritime English he could see plainly enough that they were
not to be so easily subdued. The first panic was over, but they were
crazed by the fear that had gripped them for days; they believed that
the ship was soon to sink beneath their feet; safety lay not more than
a hundred yards away,--and it was being denied them by this heartless,
unfeeling despot.

They were mainly low-caste Portuguese bound for Rio and Bahia, and they
had obeyed him through all those tortuous days out on the deep where
he was the shepherd and they the flock. But now,--now they could well
afford to turn upon and rend him, for he had brought them safe to land
and they no longer owed him anything!

"My God, I don't want to shoot any of them," groaned the Captain,
steadying himself against the rail. "But they've got guns, and they're
crazy. I--"

Some one touched his arm, and a firm, decisive voice spoke in his ear.

"I'm used to handling gangs like this, Captain Trigger. They don't
understand you, but they'll damn soon understand me, if you'll turn the
job over to me. I'm not trying to be officious, sir, and I'm not even
hinting that you can't bring 'em to their senses. I know how to handle
'em and you don't, that's all. They're not sailors, you see. And it
isn't mutiny. They need