te extreme of
insubordination. So it was now; and the same men who had thrown away
their weapons and been hauled, feet foremost, into the _Good Hope_,
began to cry out upon their leaders, and demand that some one should be
punished.

This growing ill-feeling turned upon Lawless.

In order to get a proper offing, the old outlaw had put the head of the
_Good Hope_ to seaward.

"What!" bawled one of the grumblers, "he carrieth us to seaward!"

"'Tis sooth," cried another. "Nay, we are betrayed for sure."

And they all began to cry out in chorus that they were betrayed, and in
shrill tones and with abominable oaths bade Lawless go about-ship and
bring them speedily ashore.

Lawless, grinding his teeth, continued in silence to steer the true
course, guiding the _Good Hope_ among the formidable billows. To their
empty terrors, as to their dishonourable threats, between drink and
dignity he scorned to make reply. The malcontents drew together a little
abaft the mast, and it was plain they were like barnyard cocks, "crowing
for courage." Presently they would be fit for any extremity of injustice
or ingratitude. Dick began to mount by the ladder, eager to interpose;
but one of the outlaws, who was also something of a seaman, got
beforehand.

"Lads," he began, "y' are right wooden heads, I think. For to get back,
by the mass, we must have an offing, must we not? And this old
Lawless--"

Some one struck the speaker on the mouth, and the next moment, as a fire
springs among dry straw, he was felled upon the deck, trampled under the
feet, and despatched by the daggers of his cowardly companions. At this
the wrath of Lawless rose and broke.

"Steer yourselves," he bellowed, with a curse; and, careless of the
result, he left the helm.

The _Good Hope_ was, at that moment, trembling on the summit of a swell.
She subsided, with sickening velocity, upon the farther side. A wave,
like a great black bulwark, hove immediately in front of her; and, with
a staggering blow, she plunged head foremost through that liquid hill.
The green water passed right over her from stem to stern, as high as a
man's knees; the sprays ran higher than the mast; and she rose again
upon the other side, with an appalling, tremulous indecision, like a
beast that has been deadly wounded.

Six or seven of the malcontents had been carried bodily overboard; and
as for the remainder, when they found their tongues again, it was to
bellow to the saints and