ee of the
mates is gone--one on 'em--Mr King--killed in the scrimmage, and
t'others made to walk the plank--so you'll be the only navigator that we
can muster among the lot of us, as well as the 'riginator of this here
scheme for gettin' the better of these here Spaniards, so' you're the
fittest and properest person to take charge. All that you've got to do,
sir, is to give your orders, and I'll answer for it as they'll be
obeyed."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

I ESCAPE FROM THE BRIGANTINE.

At this moment Simpson rejoined me, bringing with him three more of the
_Bangalore's_ crew; and while I was talking to them the other two men--
those whom Simpson had previously discovered--came forward from the
hatchway, where they had been lending a hand to strike the booty down
into the hold, and informed me that they had found and spoken to eight
of their shipmates, at work at the gangway and hatchway, all of whom
were quite ready and more than willing to join me at any moment when the
signal should be given. A little further inquiry elicited the
information that our party now comprised all the survivors of the
_Bangalore's_ crew who had, so to speak, made a virtue of necessity and
shipped under Mendouca in order to save their lives; there being four
others who had shipped _willingly_, and whom it had, therefore, been
deemed inexpedient to approach with a proposal to join us, lest, in
their zeal for their new chief, they should refuse and betray us all.
Our party, therefore, was now complete, and all that remained to be done
was to carry out our plans with as little delay as possible, and with
twelve men at my back I felt tolerably confident of success; indeed,
when I first learned our full strength, the wild idea flashed through my
mind of attempting not only to save the _Bangalore_, but also to capture
the _Francesca_. A moment's reflection, however, convinced me of the
impracticability of this scheme, for although, with the assistance of
the ten male passengers who, I learned, were at that moment prisoners in
their own cabins on board the Indiaman, it might be possible to capture
the _Francesca_, in the then disorganised condition of her crew, it
would certainly involve some loss of life on our side, which we could
not spare, and we should be able to do nothing with her when we had her,
our whole available strength being hardly sufficient to handle and take
care of the ship, should it come on to blow, much less to look after