TURNED ADRIFT.

The _Zenobia_ continued to run to the westward during the whole of that

day before a wind that steadily softened down, hour after hour, until by

two bells in the first dog-watch it was little more than a mere

breathing, scarcely strong enough to keep the heavy courses filled. And

we could tell by the motion of the ship that the sea as well as the wind

was going down, for by the time that the above-named hour arrived we

were bowing and swaying upon the fast-subsiding swell as easily and

gently as though the ship had been a cradle rocked by a mother's hand.

Things had been tolerably quiet out on deck during the forenoon, but

later on, when the men had turned-to after their dinner, we heard sounds

outside the house which indicated a considerable amount of activity on

the part of the mutineers; the booms and planks which were stowed on the

roof of our prison were overhauled, and several of them were flung down

on deck; then "Welshy" came in and cast loose the carpenter, ordering

him to bring his chest of tools outside. This was presently followed by

the sounds of sawing and hammering; later on we heard certain orders

being given which indicated that the mast and yard tackles were being

sent aloft; and finally there was a great commotion and laughing out on

deck, intermingled with the alarmed bleatings of some sheep, which were

housed in the longboat.

"Ah," ejaculated the skipper as these last-named sounds reached our

ears, "I know what that means! They are clearing out the longboat

preparatory to getting her over the side, and mean to turn us adrift in

her. And not us only, but also the unfortunate passengers; for if they

had not intended to send them as well as ourselves away, they would have

kept the longboat and given us one of the quarter boats, which would

have been amply big enough to have accommodated us seven--or six, if

they mean to keep Chips with them."

"He won't stay, sir, you may take my word for that," observed the

boatswain. "Parsons is a straight chap--as straight as they make 'em;

and you'll find that he's not the sort of man to have no truck wi'

mutineers--not he!"

"But they may compel him to stay," objected the skipper. "He would be a

very useful sort of man for them to have with them, and they may not

give him the choice of going or staying."

"Yes, that's very true," agreed Murdock. "But if they asks him to stay

he'll say `No', and likewise give 'em to understand that if they keep

him by force he won't do no work for 'em. And they knows Chips, and

understands that if he says a thing like that he'll stick to it, if it's

only to spite 'em. No, I don't believe as they'll want to keep any man

against his will, because that always means trouble, sooner or later,

and Muster Bainbridge is far too 'cute to run the risk of anything of

that sort. Besides, there's Joe Caton--he says as he sarved his time in

a shipbuilder's yard, and is as good a ship's carpenter as you'll find

goin'; he's stoppin' with 'em of his own accord, I reckon, and

Bainbridge will be satisfied with him."

"Well, perhaps it may be so; we shall soon know," agreed the skipper.

"But," he continued, with a sigh of anxiety, "if they mean to turn the

passengers as well as ourselves adrift--and I feel assured that they

do--I wish Bainbridge would let me advise him in the matter of fixing up

the longboat for the reception of the women and children. They will

need many little comforts that an inexperienced lad, such as he is, will

never think of; and it will be bad enough for the poor souls, even if

everything that is possible is done for their welfare. And the longboat

alone will not be big enough to take us all with any degree of safety,

to say nothing of comfort."

"We must watch for an opportunity, and give him our views upon the

matter," said the chief mate. "I wonder whether--"

At that moment the sliding door of the house in which we were confined

was thrust back, and Lloyd--otherwise "Welshy"--entered. And behind

him, ranged up athwart the deck outside, were to be seen a number of the

seamen, each with a rifle in his hand and a cutlass girt about his

waist. It was evident that the mutineers had lost no time in hunting up

the ship's arm chest--at that time an almost obsolete item of a ship's

equipment--and providing themselves with the means of effectually

suppressing anything in the nature of resistance on our part, or an

attempt to recapture the ship.

"Good a'ternoon, gen'lemen," observed "Welshy", with a grin that might

indicate either triumph or an attempt at ingratiation; "splendid weather

for a boat trip, ain't it? I'm come to cast yer loose, and I dare say

ye'll be much obliged to me--for it can't be very comfortable to sit

there, hour a'ter hour, with your feet lashed together and your hands

tied behind your backs; but, ye see, we agreed as it was best to take no

risks, and then there'd be no call for bloodshed--I dare say you all

understands what I means. Yes,"--as he proceeded to cast off the

skipper's lashings--"I've come to cast ye all adrift. But let me warn

ye all not to dream of attemptin' anything foolish, for we've got the

ship and we means to keep her; and them rifles is all loaded with ball

cartridge, and the men as carries 'em'll shoot to kill if e'er a one of

'em sees any of you doin' what you didn't ought to do. You understand,

Cap'n? And you, Mr Mate? And the rest of yer?"

At these pointed questions we severally intimated that we understood,

for indeed we could do nothing else. Whereupon the glowering scoundrel

resumed:

"That's all right, and just as it should be. We ain't none of us got

nothin' against e'er a one of yer, and we don't want to have no

vi'lence, if it can be helped--and there won't be none onless you

yourselves brings it about. But if you does--well, stand clear, that's

all I got to say. Now, we bein' all agreed that we don't want no

vi'lence nor bloodshed nor nothin' in any ways disagreeable, and also

bein' agreed that we prefers to have this here ship all to our own

selves, it have been decided to send you gents, and the ladies and

gen'lemen aft, away in the longboat, to go just exac'ly where you

bloomin' well likes. There's twenty-eight of yer, all told, includin'

the women and kids; and the longboat'll just comfortably hold yer all,

with provisions and water for three weeks. Our new skipper, Cap'n

Bainbridge, says that in this weather, and wi' this purty little breeze,

you ought to be able to make the South American coast in ten days,

easy."

"Ten days!" exploded the skipper. "Yes, no doubt--if this wind holds

and the fine weather lasts. But suppose that it doesn't, what then?"

He pulled himself up short, panting and breathless with anger, got a

pull upon himself, recovered his self-control, and then said, in a

perfectly quiet and steady voice:

"Look here, Lloyd, you are a seaman of experience, and ought to

understand--and do understand, I have no doubt--that to send a heavily

loaded open boat away upon a ten days' voyage with only three weeks'

provisions and water is--well--practically downright murder. I must see

your--er--Mr Bainbridge about this, I really must; and you must arrange

that I have an opportunity to do so. I cannot and will not undertake

the responsibility of such a voyage as that which is proposed, nor, I am

sure, will Mr Bligh or Mr Johnson. I shall simply refuse to go in the

boat."

"And I too," added the chief mate.

"Ditto," tersely added Johnson.

"You'll refuse to go, eh?" snarled Lloyd. "And suppose we makes yer;

suppose--"

"There is no use in supposing anything," interrupted the skipper. "You

profess to be anxious to avoid anything in the nature of force or

bloodshed. Very well; I tell you that there will be both if you

scoundrels persist in turning us all adrift under such circumstances as

you have named. No, stand back; don't attempt violence with me, my fine

fellow. I am free now, and if you dare to lay your filthy hands upon me

I will kill you with this," and he shook his clenched fist savagely in

Lloyd's face. "Now," he continued authoritatively, "go aft and tell

Bainbridge that I want to see him--that I must and will speak to him

before I leave this ship."

To my great surprise the man obediently turned away, and, with a

low-spoken word or two to the armed men who remained on guard outside

the door, swung round the end of the house and walked aft, as we could

tell by the sound of his receding footsteps.

He was absent about a quarter of an hour, during which Captain Roberts

quietly cast off the chief mate's lashings, then the pair of them

released Mr Johnson and the boatswain, who in turn released the

sailmaker and myself, all being done under the eyes of the armed guard

before the door, who looked stolidly on without protest by word or deed.

We had scarcely done this when we became aware that the ship was being

brought to the wind; and presently the order was given to man the

braces. There were the usual "Yo-ho! yo-hip! round with her, boys!" and

the like cries, which the British merchant seaman deems it necessary to

indulge in when he is pulling and hauling; and presently we understood

that the ship was hove-to on the starboard tack, with her head to the

northward. Then the order was given to man the capstan; and the men

were heaving round when Lloyd returned, and, with a grin of

comprehension at finding us all released from our bonds, informed the

skipper that Bainbridge was willing to see him. Whereupon Captain

Roberts left us, and, escorted by "Welshy", went aft.

Meanwhile, we who were left behind in the forward house gathered from

the various sounds which reached us that the longboat was now being

hoisted out; and presently we heard the heavy splash of her as she was

dropped into the water alongside. This was followed by an order to

overhaul and unhook the yard tackles; and in the comparative silence

that then ensued we occasionally caught the alternate murmur of the

skipper's and Bainbridge's voices: but they were speaking in ordinary

conversational tones, and the multitudinous sounds of the ship--the

faint rustle of canvas aloft, the patter of reef-points, the creaking of

the yards and timbers, the wash of water alongside, and the subdued hum

of many voices on deck--prevented us from catching a word of what was

being said. However, we gathered that Captain Roberts had been

protesting against turning so many people adrift in the longboat alone,

for presently we heard Bainbridge shout an order to lower away the

captain's gig, which, next to the dinghy and jollyboat, was the smallest

boat belonging to the ship. But she was roomy enough to accommodate ten

people comfortably, without ballast, or seven with provisions and water

enough to last her crew for three weeks; and I considered that if

Bainbridge was indeed going to give us the gig as well as the longboat,

with, of course, an adequate supply of provisions and water, we should

be able to manage tolerably well in anything short of a gale.

Presently Lloyd, who appeared to be acting as Bainbridge's lieutenant,

came forward again and entered the house. "Now, then, gen'lemen," he

remarked, with the grin which he seemed to think it necessary to assume

when addressing us, "the longboat's all ready, and the passengers is

waitin' to go down into her, so you'd better come along and see to the

stowin' of 'em. And Mr Bainbridge have agreed to let you have the gig

also; so you ought to be as happy and comfortable as sandboys. But

don't forget what I told yer about our not wantin' to have no trouble

nor bloodshed. The ship's ours, and we means to keep her, so if you

wants to go away with whole skins, what you've got to do is to get from

alongside as quick as possible, and without makin' no trouble; for as

sure as any of ye attempts to make trouble there'll be bloodshed, and

don't you forget it. Mr Bligh, you and Mr Johnson be to go first and

see to the stowin' of the passengers; and when the longboat's got her

complement the rest of yer can foller."

"You are not taking any chances, Lloyd, are you?" laughed Mr Bligh

sarcastically, as he rose to his feet. "Although all hands of you

appear to be armed, you are not going to run the risk of having too many

of us loose out on deck at once, for fear of what we might do, eh?

Well, you are a fine, courageous lot of mutineers, I must say! You

wouldn't even chance a fight with a single one of us when you started

out to take the ship, but must needs entice us for'ard, one man at a

time, upon the pretence that fire had broken out in the hold. Ugh! I

don't envy Bainbridge his crew of bold buccaneers--not a little bit!"

and with a scornful laugh he swaggered out on deck, followed by the

second mate.

A minute later we heard his voice speaking to the passengers and calling

upon them by name, one by one, to pass down the side, the women and

children first. And it was pitiful to hear the low moaning and sobbing

of some of the poor creatures as they reluctantly left the firm,

spacious deck of the ship and fearfully clambered down the side ladder

into the dancing longboat, which looked so small and dangerous a refuge

in comparison with the bulk of the barque. The embarkation of the

passengers proceeded slowly, because of the women and children among

them, all of whom were frightened, while many of them were weeping

bitterly, despite the best efforts of husbands, fathers, brothers, and

male friends to encourage them. But at length the last passenger went

down over the side and was assigned his place in the longboat, and then

Lloyd again came forward and summoned those of us who remained in the

house to follow him; and as we passed out on deck and started to walk

aft to the gangway, the five armed seamen who had mounted guard over us

followed at our heels.

As we cleared the galley, which formed part of the structure in which we

had all been confined, the whole of the after part of the ship, from the

fore end of the main hatchway, came into view, and we saw that the

vessel was indeed, as we had supposed, hove-to on the starboard tack,

with her mainyard laid almost square, the mainsail brailed up, and the

remainder of her canvas set; and the fabric was full of the sound of a

gentle creaking of timbers, trusses, and parrals, and the soft rustling

of the white cloths overhead. She had no way on her, but was curtsying

and rolling gently on a long, sluggish swell that came creeping up from

the eastward. Apart from the swell, the sea was quite smooth, its

surface being scarcely wrinkled into a pure, delicate blue tint by the

easterly breeze, which had died down to so gentle a zephyr, that the

lighter canvas and even the topsails flapped to the masts with every

heave and dip of the hull. The sky was cloudless, save away down toward

the west, where a great mass of vapour, broken up into small patches,

blazed crimson and gold in the rays of the declining sun, and gilded and

reddened the sleepy undulations beneath it.

Bainbridge, with his peaked cap thrust aggressively to the back of his

head, his brass-buttoned blue serge jacket opening to display his white

shirt and flowing black silk necktie, and also, incidentally, a brace of

revolvers, suggestively stuck in the broad elastic belt which girt his

waist, and with a smile of insolent triumph upon his dark, saturnine,

but otherwise rather good-looking face, stood alone at the break of the

poop, with both hands thrust deep into his trousers pockets and his

white-canvas-shod feet planted wide apart, watchfully regarding the

proceedings on the main deck beneath him; while the whole of the crew,

with the exception of the cook and the five men who constituted our

especial bodyguard, were drawn up athwart the deck and along the face of

the poop structure, each man armed with a rifle, and with a sheathed

cutlass girt about his waist. Captain Roberts and Mr Bligh stood

together at the open lee gangway, through which and above the lee rail

could be seen the tossing masts of the longboat.

As our little party approached him the skipper turned, and, after

running his eye over us for a moment, said:

"Mr Temple, I shall be obliged to ask you, the carpenter, and Sails to

go with Mr Johnson in the gig. The longboat is already pretty well

crowded, considering that part of her complement consists of women and

children. You will find that the gig already has four breakers of fresh

water in her, which will serve for ballast, but you will have to

provision her from the longboat, as Bainbridge absolutely refuses to

give us so much as another biscuit. You will find Mr Johnson already

in her. Just jump down and lend him a hand, if you please."

The gig, with her mast already stepped, was lying outside the longboat,

with Mr Johnson in her, while Chips, in the longboat, was overhauling

the stock of provisions in the latter and passing a certain portion into

the gig according to the second mate's instructions. It was a bit of a

job to get to her across the crowded longboat, but I had just stepped

into her and was about to address Johnson when I stopped short, for I

heard Captain Roberts's voice raised in a final appeal to the men.

"My lads," he said in a loud, clear voice, "before I quit the ship I

want to give you a last chance to undo the evil that you have this day

done, and to avert from yourselves the punishment that most surely

awaits you if you persist in following the path into which you have been

beguiled by a plausible young scoundrel--"

"Meaning me, eh, Skipper?" jeered Bainbridge, with a harsh laugh, from

the poop above.

"Even now, men," continued the captain, ignoring Bainbridge's

interruption, "at this last moment, it is not too late for you to

withdraw from your unholy compact and return to your duty. You are not

to blame for what has happened; you have simply been deceived and led

astray by one who ought to have known better than to tempt you to a step

which can only end in your destruction. I ask you to lay down those

arms and place yourselves at my mercy; and I promise you, upon my honour

as a seaman and a gentleman, that if you will do so not one of you

except your ringleader shall ever hear another word about the matter--"

"Stop! Shut up! Not another word, as you value your life!" yelled

Bainbridge, suddenly flying into a fury and whipping a revolver out of

his belt. "So that is your little game, is it? You would bribe those

men to betray me, to put me into your power! Very well! Now you jump

down into that longboat at once; and if you dare to open your mouth

again and speak another word of temptation to the men, I'll blow your

head off," and he wound up with an oath.

But Captain Roberts was not to be deterred so easily from seizing the

only opportunity that had thus far presented itself by which he might

make an effort to regain the command of the ship and his ascendancy over

her crew, nor was he at all the sort of man to be frightened from his

duty by the flourishing of a pistol before his eyes. It was his duty to

nullify this mutiny if he could, and therefore he turned to the men

again.

"Lads," he said, "bethink yourselves. What sort of a future is to be

yours if you persist--?"

Crack! Bainbridge's pistol barked out from the poop, and poor Captain

Roberts reeled back, clutching his breast, from which the red blood was

spouting, into the arms of Mr Bligh, who was standing close by him.

And Bainbridge, startled perhaps at what he had done--for the skipper

had always behaved like a father to him--lost the last vestige of his

self-control, and became in a moment the very personification of a

raving, bloodthirsty maniac. Levelling his still smoking revolver at

Bligh, he commanded the latter, with a very tornado of curses, instantly

to place the body of the captain in the longboat and shove off from the

ship's side forthwith, unless he wished to share the skipper's fate.

Still supporting the swooning body of the captain in his arms, Bligh

allowed his gaze to search in turn the face of each of the armed men who

now clustered round him, and seeing nothing to justify the hope that a

further appeal would meet with the least success, replied:

"All right, my lad, I'm going--worse luck for you! Here, one of you,"--

to the crew--"just drop your shooting-iron for a minute, if you're not

afraid of me, and lend me a hand to lower the skipper over the side,

will ye?" Then, as one of the men mechanically obeyed, the mate

murmured in his ear: "I'm sorry for you silly buckos, for this means the

hang-man's noose for all hands of you. But there's time for you yet.

If you repent before we're out of sight, all you have to do is to bear

up in chase of us and run the ensign up to the fore royal-mast-head. I

shall know what that means, and you'll have no reason to regret it. Now

then," aloud, as the two took the skipper's body between them,

"handsomely does it. Below there, boatswain, just ease the captain

down, and lay him in the main sheets where the doctor can get to work

upon him."

Between them they somehow contrived to get the unfortunate skipper's

body down the side and into the sternsheets of the longboat, where Dr

Morrison at once proceeded to examine the wound; and the moment that

this was done Mr Bligh scrambled down the side ladder, made his way aft

among the women and children, who were huddled together, most of them

sobbing quietly with their faces buried in their hands, seized the

tiller, and, thrusting it hard-over, gave the word to shove off and make

sail. The order was promptly obeyed, and five minutes later the

longboat, with the gig towing astern, was running off to leeward, with

both standing lugs and her jib set; while those of us who were watching

the barque saw her head sheets trimmed aft and her mainyard swung as she

slowly gathered way and stood to the nor'ard and eastward, close-hauled

on the starboard tack.

We had been under way about ten minutes when Mr Bligh hailed Mr

Johnson to haul up alongside; and when we had done so he said:

"Mr Johnson, now that Captain Roberts is so seriously hurt I shall want

you to come into the longboat with me, because I am the only one at

present capable of navigating her, and--you understand me, I'm sure.

Temple, you will have to take command of the gig, and do the best you

can with her. That young scoundrel has not permitted any of us to bring

our sextants with us; he has not even given us a chart, or so much as a

boat compass, so we shall have to do the best we can without them. But

I have been considering the situation, and have come to the conclusion

that our best plan will be to make for Rio, which, according to my rough

reckoning, bears about west and by no'th, true; distant, say, twelve

hundred miles: and we shall have to shape our course for it, as nearly

as we can, by the sun and stars. This plan has the advantage that by

continuing to steer a westerly course we are bound to hit the South

American coast somewhere, even if we should miss Rio; and we also stand

a very good chance of falling in with and being picked up by something

bound round the Horn. So much for that part of the business. Next, as

we are a bit crowded here, and the boat is rather deeper than I like,

you will have to take the boatswain in exchange for Mr Johnson; and--"

he paused and ran his eye speculatively over the crowd in the longboat.

Then, addressing them generally, he said, "I wonder whether one of you

gentlemen would care to go in the gig with Mr Temple? As you can all

see and feel for yourselves, we are rather uncomfortably crowded aboard

here, and the boat would be all the safer if she were relieved of the

weight of even one of you, while there is plenty of room in the gig, and

she is just as safe as the longboat. I suppose I need not tell you that

Temple is an excellent seaman and navigator, while the gig is the faster

boat of the two and will probably arrive at least a couple of days ahead

of us."

A pause of a few seconds' duration followed this appeal, and then a Mr

Cunningham--who happened to be the only unattached male passenger among

the party--arose and said:

"If you consider the change desirable I shall be very pleased to go in

the gig; in fact, I am the only male passenger who has no `encumbrance'

with him in the shape of wife or child, therefore it will make no

difference at all to me which boat I happen to be in."

"That being the case, we will make the exchange at once, and then you,

Temple, had better make sail and get over the ground as fast as you

can," said Mr Bligh.

And therewith the gig was hauled up close alongside the longboat and the

transfer at once effected, Mr Johnson turning over to the bigger boat

while the boatswain and Mr Cunningham joined us in the gig. The

transfer was not a lengthy process, for Bainbridge had not permitted any

of us to bring away any of our belongings, and at that moment the

richest of us had only what he or she happened to be wearing in the way

of clothing. Then, as the chief mate cast off our painter and thrust

the two boats apart, he said:

"Make sail, Temple, and crack on for all you are worth. And, as soon as

you get in, report the mutiny, get the British Consul to send out a tug

or something, with provisions and water, to look for us; and see that he

reports the matter at once to the nearest naval station within reach, so

that the men-o'-war may be dispatched to seek the _Zenobia_, and get

hold of her before she has time to do very much mischief. And don't

forget that your course is west and by no'th--or, as near as may be, in

the eye of the setting sun when he reaches the horizon. Goodbye, and a

quick passage to you!"

"Goodbye, sir," I returned; "and the same to you! I trust that the

doctor will be able to put the captain on his feet again by the time

that you get in. I will remember all your instructions, and lose not a

moment in carrying them out directly we arrive. Goodbye, all! Hoist

away, bos'n; and, Simpson, boom out the sheet with that boathook."

The sun was by this time within ten minutes of his setting, and glowed,

a great, palpitating disk of incandescent red, through a thin veil of

innumerable small, closely clustering clouds that stretched in gorgeous

tints of gold, crimson, and purple against a background of very pale

green, right athwart the horizon ahead, their colours being brilliantly

reflected in the softly rippling, slowly moving undulations that came

creeping up after us, heaving us gently up on their ample breasts and

then sweeping on ahead of us straight toward the sinking luminary. The

wind had just strength enough in it to keep the sheet of our single lug

from sagging into the water, and the gig was sliding smoothly along,

with the small sound of lapping, gurgling water under her, at the rate

of about three knots in the hour, leaving behind her a thin, swirling

wake of small bubbles and tiny whirlpools that vanished upon the breast

of the next on-coming swell. The longboat, under fore and main standing

lugs and a small jib, deeply loaded as she was, was doing a knot less

than ourselves, and we soon passed and slid ahead of her; while away

down in the north-eastern board, broad on our starboard quarter, the

topsails and upper canvas of the barque shone primrose-yellow above the

ridges of the swell as she stood away from us, heading about

nor'-north-east, close-hauled on the starboard tack.

There was every prospect that we were about to have a fine night, almost

too fine, in fact, to suit us: for although light winds meant smooth

water, which in its turn meant safety for deeply laden open boats, we

had a long road before us and not too many provisions or too much water

for our sustenance during our journey; and for my own part, if I could

have had my choice, I would have preferred a little more wind, provided

that it was fair--even although it involved a somewhat heavier sea--to

help us on our way.