"There, boy, I can see you; come out or I'll fire."
"Come out! Then he cannot see me," I thought, and I clung there
spasmodically, hoping still that I was unobserved.
"He's not here," said Jarette, sharply; "now then, one of you, I want a
man at the wheel, the ship's yawing about anyhow. Who have you there--
Morris?"
"Down on guard at the cabin-door," said a voice.
"Brook?"
"'Long with him."
"Jackson?"
"Sitting on the forksle-hatch."
"Sacre! Where's Bob Hampton?"
"Hee-ar!" came from the direction of the way down to the lower deck.
"Come up here and take the wheel."
"Ay, ay," growled the familiar voice, and I felt heart-sick to hear it,
for Bob Hampton would have been the first man I should have picked out
as one to be trusted, while the sound of his voice made it appear that
every one would be against us.
But though these thoughts flashed through my mind, I was listening all
the time intently to what went on below, striving as I was to grasp the
real state of affairs.
"Here you are then, Bob Hampton. Behold you, my friend, though it's so
dark I can't see you," said Jarette, and I heard a low chuckling noise
which I recognised as Bob Hampton's laugh.
"And that's a bull as arn't an Irish one," he said.
"Ah, yes, faith of a man, but don't you try to be funny, my man," said
Jarette, "for this is not a funny time, when men are working with their
necks in the hang-dog noose. Now, look here, my friend, I did not ask
you to join us, because I did not trust you; but you have joined us to
save your skin; so you had better work for us well, or--there, I will
not say ugly things. You are a good sailor, Bob Hampton, and know your
work, and it would be a pity if you were to be knocked overboard and
drowned."
"Horrid pity, messmet."
"Captain, if you please, Bob Hampton, and your friend if you are
faithful. That will do. Now go to the wheel, and send the ship on her
voyage south. She is rolling in the trough of the sea."
"Right!" said Bob. "'Spose, captain, you won't be so particklar; man
may light his pipe while he is at the wheel."
"Oh yes. Smoke and be comfortable; but you will mind how you steer, for
I shall be a hard severe man. You understand, extremement severe."
"Course you will," said Bob, coolly; "skippers must be. Don't matter to
me, messmate--cap'n, I mean--one skipper's good as another. But I say,
cap'n, there's Barney Blane and Neb Dumlow knocked on the head in the
forksle. They on'y showed fight a-cause they see as I did at first.
They're good mates and true, and 'll jyne me as they allus have. `Wheer
you sails,' say they, `we sails.' So I thought I'd put in a word, as
you wants trusty men."
"I can choose my crew, Bob Hampton," said the Frenchman, in a peculiar
tone of voice. "Too much talk is only good for parrot birds. Go you
and steer."
"Right you are, cap'n," said Bob, and I heard him go aft, but could not
see him till I wrenched my head round, and could then dimly see
something in the halo of soft light shed by the lamp on the compass.
And all this time the ship was rolling slowly, with the yards making a
strange creaking sound and the sails filling and flapping about with
strange flutterings and whimperings; but in a few minutes there was a
perceptible change, the ship's head swinging round, and I knew that we
were once more gliding swiftly through the water.
That there was a group of men below me I felt absolutely certain, though
I could see nobody; and at last, when I had come to the conclusion that
I had reached the extreme limit of my strength, and that I must drop,
Jarette spoke suddenly, but in quite a low voice--
"You two stay here by the sky-light, and if any attempt is made to get
on deck, shoot at once. If they are killed, their blood be on their own
heads. Where's young Mr Walters?"
"Why, you left him on guard with the others at the cabin-door," said a
man surlily.
"Fetch him here: I did," said Jarette, and I felt then that I was going
down on the heads of the men below. But I made one more desperate
effort, as I heard the soft footsteps moving off in different
directions; and then almost without a sound I got my arm round the
outside shroud, then one leg round,--how I can hardly tell you now, I
was so exhausted,--and the next minute I had relieved my muscles of the
strain, and was standing there with my feet on the ratlines, my arms
thrust right through and folded round one of the inner ropes, and my
head thrust through as well; safe, I felt, even if I lost my senses and
fainted away.
Fortunately for me, the ship was heeling over now in the opposite
direction, so that my position was easier, and as I half lay, half clung
there, the painful stress on mind and body grew lighter--at least the
bodily stress did, and I began to think more clearly.
It was horrible. The ship then had been seized by the crew, headed by
Jarette. Some of the men had resisted, and were prisoners in the
forecastle; but Bob Hampton had gone over to the side of the mutineers,
and the others were sure to follow. But the worst thing of all was the
knowledge that my brother midshipman was in the mutiny, and keeping
guard over the officers and passengers. And he was a gentleman's son.
Here then was the explanation of his being so friendly with Jarette, and
that was why he and Jarette had been up aloft in the dark.
I shivered at the thought. But the next moment I was seeing something
else clearly, and I guessed at two things which afterwards I found to be
correct. Jarette had traded upon Walters' discontent, and won him over
with, no doubt, great promises, because he would be useful; and of
course I saw it plainly now it had been necessary to fasten the
cabin-doors, and shut the officers in. Mr Frewen was, as I had heard,
locked in his cabin. Who was there to go quietly at night and fasten
their doors? No one more likely than the lad who had the run of the
cabins and saloon.
"No, I won't believe it," I thought the next moment. "Nic Walters
couldn't be such a miserable scoundrel as that."