There was a cry of consternation from the men on seeing the captain
fall, for, although the majority of them evidently supported Moody in
the rush for the boats, none had dreamt of going to the lengths he did;
still, not a man stepped forward to seize the assassin, who, coolly
throwing overboard the bloody blade with which the foul blow had been
dealt, proceeded to carry out his original intention of casting loose
the lashings of the long-boat and launching it over the side, several
assisting him as he began the task.
However, Mr Meldrum had seen what had happened from the poop, not
having followed Captain Dinks too closely, for fear of being again
accused of interfering with the duties of the ship.
Now, single-handed as he was, he at once dropped on to the lower deck,
rushing to where Moody was standing, but the other men got in between
and hustled him away; so, seeing that he could do nothing towards
arresting the miscreant for the present, he bent over the poor captain
and lifted him on his knee to see whether life was quite extinct.
Happily he still lived! moaning faintly as Mr Meldrum raised him in his
arms; consequently, as it was too dark--for it was just under the break
of the poop where the wounded man was lying--for him to see what was the
extent of the injury he had received, Mr Meldrum called out loudly for
assistance, that he might be able to carry him below to the saloon and
bind up the wound properly. It was vitally necessary to staunch the
blood speedily, as it was flowing copiously and had already saturated
the coat-sleeve of Mr Meldrum's supporting arm.
"What are you calling out for?" shouted out the miscreant Moody in
derision. "None of them will hear you through the bulkhead. Let the
cursed brute bleed to death and be hanged to him! I'm sorry I didn't
settle him, right out, as I intended!"
Somebody did hear, however; for at that moment, Frank Harness--who had
been told to go below along with McCarthy and Adams at midnight by the
unfortunate captain, who said he would take the sole duty of the ship on
himself until the morning watch was called--rushed up the companion way
on to the poop.
"Did you call, Captain Dinks--Mr Meldrum!" he cried, looking about and
seeing nobody there. "I thought I heard someone call out for help!"
"I'm here below on the main-deck," shouted Mr Meldrum. "Call for
assistance and come and help me at once. Poor Captain Dinks has been
stabbed by one of the crew, and I fear he's dying!"
"Good heavens!" exclaimed Frank in startled surprise, staggered for the
moment; but he did not stop long to think or act.
"Mr McCarthy!--Mr Lathrope!" he called loudly down the companion.
"Come up here at once and leave the ladies for the present. Something
dreadful has happened!"
Then, without uttering another word, he jumped down alongside of Mr
Meldrum on the lower deck; where, catching up a marlinspike that was
handy, he rapped vehemently against the coamings of the hatchway, some
of the hands having gone to bunk down there since the cargo had been
partly removed, on account of the forecastle being quite untenable from
the water that had accumulated there, besides which the waves were now
washing over it freely.
"All hands ahoy!" sang out Frank. "Tumble up, men! Tumble up just as
you are! There's murder afloat!"
"Stow that yelling!" cried the group around Moody, who did not wish to
be interrupted yet awhile with their plans; but Frank took no notice of
their observations, save that a contemptuous smile passed over his face
as he compressed his lips.
"Who did it?" asked he of Mr Meldrum, looking down at the latter as he
bent over the poor captain, supporting his head and shoulders still on
his knee so that he might breathe more freely.
"That man there," was the answer, Mr Meldrum pointing to where Moody
was standing in the centre of some ten others of the same kidney. "The
same man whom Captain Dinks knocked down the other day for
insubordination, and whom I saw threaten him afterwards, as I can swear.
If the captain dies, he will be tried for wilful murder, and hung, for
it was no accidental blow, but a deliberately premeditated deed!"
"Oh, Bill Moody? I thought it was that scoundrel!" exclaimed Frank; and
in a moment he had leaped fearlessly amidst the throng--with the
marlinspike fortunately still in his hand, for he was otherwise
weaponless.
"Stand back!" shouted one of the men warningly, pushing him away--not in
any rough fashion, but as if to keep him out of harm's way. "We don't
wish to do you any hurt, Mr Harness, but I'd advise you to leave Moody
alone! He's desperate now and might cause you an injury; besides which,
he's one of us, and we don't intend to give him up!"
"Don't you?" exclaimed Frank, flaming up and struggling with the man who
held him back; while the would-be murderer, drawing another knife from
his belt, stood apparently at bay waiting for him to come on.
"Hillo! what's all this yere muss about?" called out Mr Lathrope,
appearing on the poop at this juncture; "whar's everybody!"
"Here, help!" said Frank. "The crew have mutinied and the captain has
been stabbed. I'm trying to get hold of the murderer; but they're too
many for me. Help, Mr Lathrope, help!"
"You will have it then, you young devil!" screamed out Moody savagely,
making a plunge at Frank with the formidable knife that he had now
drawn, which had a much longer blade than that with which he had
stricken down the captain. "I'll soon stop your cursed yelling, my
joker, and give you something better to cry for!"
"I guess not, sez Con," drawled out the American, the crack of his six-
shooter echoing through the air at the same time that the knife fell to
the deck from the miscreant's hand, which had been neatly perforated by
a bullet. The instant he raised it above his head to strike Frank, Mr
Lathrope catching sight of it, had "drawn a bead on it," as he would
have expressed it, without delay. "No, sirree, I guess not, as long as
old Zach hain't forgot to handle the shootin'-irons!" he continued. "I
fancy, mister, I've spiled your murdering little game; an' now we'll go
in for a rough and tumble, I opine!"
So saying, the American, not shooting again for fear of wounding Frank,
was down on the main-deck in a jiffey and by the side of the brave young
sailor who was tackling the mutineers so gallantly--Mr Meldrum also
joining in the struggle, first laying down the now nearly lifeless body
of the captain again on the deck, however, and drawing off his coat to
place it under his head so as to raise it up. The trio were shortly
afterwards reinforced by the arrival of Mr McCarthy, panting and out of
breath, with the side of his monkey-jacket half torn off by Major Negus,
who had caught hold of it in trying to prevent his rushing up the
companion ladder on hearing Frank's cry for help, the good lady
imploring him not to leave her to be murdered!
The first mate's brawny fists, hitting out right and left, did yeoman's
service in the melee that ensued, and so did Mr Lathrope, while Frank
and Mr Meldrum also fought well; but the four were powerless against
Moody's gang, who numbered a round dozen and had, by battening down the
main-hatch, prevented the loyal portion of the crew from coming to their
assistance--when, of course, the tables would have been turned.
Fortunately, there was no knife used in the fray, beyond the one which
Moody had so unceremoniously dropped, and thus further bloodshed was
prevented; but some hard knocks were given and received, and the party
from the poop did not come off scathless, Mr Lathrope having his rather
long nose somewhat flattened and almost turned to one side by a blow
from the sledge-hammer fist of one of the mutineers. Mr Meldrum had
also been considerably mauled about, and Frank had a splendid black eye.
As for the first mate, who had gone into the very thick of it, he
"hadn't a sound bone in the howl of his body from the crown of his head
to the sole of his fut"--that is, according to his version of it!
The struggle did not last very long, the opposing forces being so
unequally matched; so, as soon as Frank and his coadjutors had been
borne down by the sheer weight of numbers, their conquerors hustled them
into the corner of the deck under the break of the poop, where the
captain was still lying, throwing them down beside him and telling them
they had better keep quiet now they had had the worst of it, that is if
they valued their lives. It was no empty threat, either; for, the
mutineers emphasised the order by leaving two of their number on guard
over them, with belaying pins in their hands, with which they were told
to "knock them on the head" should they stir or call out--a command
which they looked quite capable of executing.
The gang then proceeded to drag the long-boat to the opening in the
broken bulwarks on the starboard side of the ship and launch her into
the water, for it was a little smoother there on account of being
inclosed like a sort of lagoon between the vessel and the reef. It was
a ticklish job, for an occasional roller swelled into the boat from
round the stern of the ship; while as the waves that broke over the
forecastle and weather quarter of the _Nancy Bell_ washed through the
vessel, they poured like a cascade from the inclined deck, threatened to
swamp the little raft as she lay tossing uneasily alongside until the
mutineers could complete their arrangements for embarkation.
There was not much to do, for, thanks to Captain Dinks' precautions,
provisions and small water casks, or barricoes, had already been stowed
in the bows and along the sternsheets of the long-boat; so, after
chucking in one or two articles which they had brought up from below
beforehand on the sly, amongst which was a good-sized barrel of rum,
they proceeded to drop down into the boat one by one, Moody going first
and the others following until the whole number, a round dozen in all,
had got in--the two who had remained as sentries over the poop party
being the last.
Then the little craft, which appeared loaded down to the gunwales, was
shoved off with a cheer of bravado from the side of the ship, and was
soon lost to the sight of those left behind. The latter, however,
eagerly looked after the boat as it was rapidly borne towards the shore
between the heavy rolling waves that raced after it, until it finally
disappeared in the night gloom.
"Sure an' it's a good riddance they are!" exclaimed Mr McCarthy, rising
to his feet and shaking out his legs to see how far they were capable of
movement after the mauling he had received. "May joy go wid them!"
"I hope the hull durned crowd will git swallowed up in Davy Jones'
Locker afore they git ashore, I dew!" said the American fervently,
stroking his nose tenderly and speaking more nasally than ever through
the injury the organ had received. "Of all the tarnation mean skunks I
ever kim across from Maine to California, I guess they're 'bout the
right down slick meanest--not nary a heathen Chinese would ha' done what
they hev! I'd tar and feather them, I would sure, if I hed the chance,
right away!"
"Never mind them," interposed Mr Meldrum, whose first care after the
mutineers had released him and gone over the side, was to raise up poor
Captain Dinks' head again and feel his pulse. "I have no doubt they
will meet with their proper deserts! Let us see to the captain now. I
think he had better be moved into the cabin, for this night air is doing
him no good; and, besides, we'll there be able to see to his wound
better. However I shall want some assistance."
"I'll hilp you in a minit, sorr," ejaculated Mr McCarthy, who, as soon
as he had satisfied himself that his limbs were pretty sound, had
devoted his energies to opening the hatchway--"that is as soon as I've
unkivered this limbo and let the other hands come up. Faix, an' if them
divils had not battened it down and Boltrope and the Norwegee could a
got at thim, it's too many for tbim we'd ha' been, I'm thinking!"
"I didn't see what they were after," said Frank, "or I would have
slipped the cover before they secured it; but I wonder where Mr Adams
is all this time? Surely he must have heard the row! He ought to have
come to our aid."
"By the powers," exclaimed the first mate, "I niver thought of him till
this blessid minnit! Where, in the name of Moses, can he be? I believe
he wint down and turned into his cot when I did."
"He ain't jined them copperheads and left us in the lurch, hey?"
inquired the American. "I didn't kinder think it on him, though he wer
sorter quiet and sly-like."
"No, sorr," replied Mr McCarthy, "Adams is a first-rate seaman and a
good officer too! He would be the last man to join a mutiny. Something
must have happened to him, I'm thinking."
"I wonder, too," said Mr Meldrum, "that my daughter Kate has not come
up before from the saloon! She must have known that something unusual
was taking place on deck from our calls for help and the report of your
pistol, Mr Lathrope?"
"I'm durned if I know! I'm all in a tangle, I guess," answered the
American; "but I'll go down and see, mister."
All this while, Mr McCarthy had been fumbling at the fastenings of the
hatchway, where the remainder of the crew were supposed to be
imprisoned; but when he and Frank Harness, who lent his assistance, had
at last got off the cover by a violent effort, not a soul appeared,
rushing up as they expected, nor was there any response to their
summons--"All hands on deck!"
What could have become of them all?
The mysterious silence below was a proof that something unforeseen had
happened!