o had also tasted the cat,
and Matthew Thompson, both of whom readily joined in the plot. That
Alexander Smith (_alias_ John Adams), John Williams, and William M'Koy,
evinced equal willingness, and went with Churchill to the armourer, of
whom they obtained the keys of the arm-chest, under pretence of wanting
a musket to fire at a shark, then alongside; that finding Mr. Hallet
asleep on an arm-chest in the main-hatchway, they roused and sent him on
deck. Charles Norman, unconscious of their proceedings, had in the
meantime awaked Mr. Hayward, and directed his attention to the shark,
whose movements he was watching at the moment that Mr. Christian and his
confederates came up the fore-hatchway, after having placed arms in the
hands of several men who were not aware of their design. One man,
Matthew Thompson, was left in charge of the chest, and he served out
arms to Thomas Burkitt and Robert Lamb. Mr. Christian said he then
proceeded to secure Lieutenant Bligh, the master, gunner, and botanist.'

'When Mr. Christian,' observes Morrison in his Journal, 'related the
above circumstances, I recollected having seen him fasten some staves to
a plank lying on the larboard gangway, as also having heard the
boatswain say to the carpenter, "it will not do to-night." I likewise
remembered that; Mr. Christian had visited the fore-cockpit several
times that evening, although he had very seldom, if ever, frequented
the warrant-officers' cabins before.'

If this be a correct statement, and the greater part of it is borne out
by evidence on the court-martial, it removes every doubt of Christian
being the sole instigator of the mutiny, and that no conspiracy nor
pre-concerted measures had any existence, but that it was suddenly
conceived by a hot-headed young man, in a state of great excitement of
mind, amounting to a temporary aberration of intellect, caused by the
frequent abusive and insulting language of his commanding officer.
Waking out of a short half hour's disturbed sleep, to take the command
of the deck--finding the two mates of the watch, Hayward and Hallet,
asleep (for which they ought to have been dismissed the service instead
of being, as they were, promoted)--the opportunity tempting, and the
ship completely in his power, with a momentary impulse he darted down
the fore-hatchway, got possession of the keys of the arm-chest, and made
the hazardous experiment of arming such of the men as he thought he
could trust, and effect