he had cunningly prepared for us. `Take that, you
pig, for my answer!'

"His revolver gave out a sharp crack, and simultaneously with the
report, the other's pistol fell from his hand, the scoundrel's elbow
being shattered by the shot.

"Ere I could send a shot in the same direction to finish him off, the
big negro, who had accompanied him to the front, instantly dragged back
the `marquis,' howling with rage and pain, behind the shelter of the
mainmast; and then, picking up his revolver for him, the two of them
blazed amongst us pretty securely from that retreat, without, however,
doing any damage to our side. A bullet of mine, though, flattened the
big negro's nose a little more than Nature had already done for him, and
which did not improve his beauty, as you can well believe.

"We kept on popping away at them whenever we saw we had a shot, the
whole of this day; well, that was only yesterday, but appears ages ago
to me, sirs! We kept on firing without materially diminishing their
strength, but they only replied feebly to our fire, with an occasional
shot fired at intervals, making up by their shouting and demoniacal
yells for their failure to harm us more effectively.

"From this we became convinced that they were obliged to husband their
ammunition, having no more cartridges beyond those still remaining in
the chambers of the revolvers they were using, which had been loaded
when served out to Monsieur Henri and the boatswain, to whom the weapons
originally belonged. There was, likewise, little doubt but that the
mutineers had robbed those poor fellows, after murdering them like poor
Cato, in the forecastle, as the little Englishman had surmised.

"Towards sunset, later on in the afternoon--last night that was--Senor
Applegarth, remember, we sighted your vessel in the distance.

"Heavens! She looked to us in our desperate strait as an angel of mercy
might appear to the spirits of the damned in hell; and, at once, the
thought of abandoning our accursed ship, which that fiend of a black
`marquis' unwillingly suggested, rapidly matured itself into a resolve.

"But our intentions in carrying out this determination were very
different to his, for we believed that, with your help, we should the
sooner be able to overcome the rascally gang, and re-conquer the vessel
we might be compelled, ere long, to surrender, all of us now being
pretty well worn out with the struggle!

"`This is grand! this is magnificent!'