"You in the cabin--Captain Jarette says you are to understand that he is
now master of this ship, and that no harm will be done to any one if you
all give up quietly."
"And if we do not," said Captain Berriman, sharply, "what then?"
"That is for Captain Jarette to decide," replied the voice, one which
made me writhe as I looked from one to the other, wondering whether they
recognised who was speaking.
"Captain Jarette!" cried our sturdy old officer, furiously. "Look here,
sir, don't you insult me by calling that French scoundrel by such a
title. And look here, are you making this announcement of your own free
will, or are you forced by that contemptible mongrel knave to deliver
his insolent message?"
"There is no compulsion, captain, and no need for you to call names,
without you wish to be punished for your insolence. I am Captain
Jarette, sir, and this is my good ship, these are my good brave men.
Brave enfans--do you hear, bons enfans. This lad is my young
lieutenant, who, like the rest, was sick of the vagaries of such a
tyrannical old wretch as you."
"You dog!" growled the captain, furiously.
"Yes, dog, sir, so don't tease me into biting, or I may use my teeth
sharply."
"You, Walters," cried the captain, "listen, boy--why are you with these
men? Are you a prisoner?"
There was silence for a space before Walters said sharply, as if some
one had made a threatening gesture close to his head--
"No, I am not a prisoner."
"But you have not joined these mutinous scoundrels, sir?" cried the
captain, and his voice sounded quite plaintive.
Walters made no reply.
"Do you hear me, boy? Answer me, you--Oh no, it is impossible."
There was a low derisive laugh plainly heard, and then in a mocking tone
Jarette said--
"Why don't you answer the good kind captain, Lieutenant Walters?"
I started at this, and my lips parted to give utterance to the
ejaculation, "Oh!" as I felt I was grasping the reason of my messmate's
conduct. Could it be ambition?
"What! you're too modest? All right, dear boy, I'll answer for you.
Yes, he has joined me, skipper, as my right hand, to help navigate our
ship. Do you hear--our ship? He was sick of your bullying and
domineering, just as we all were. I had only to ask the lads if they
were not tired of being slaves, to have them join me at once. And now
you've often talked to me; let me talk to you for your good. No more
bad language, please, unless you want to go overboard to join those
fools who showed fight last night. Be civil, and you shall be decently
treated, till I set you afloat or ashore, as seems best to me. There,
we only want to say--don't play the fool, and let the doctor and those
passengers think they can do any good by resisting. We don't want to
make any of you bleed. What have you been doing to the door to keep it
from opening? Have it pulled down, and come out like sensible people."
"Don't answer him, sir," said the mate, in a whisper.
"Do you hear?" cried Jarette, savagely. "Open the door, or I'll put a
few pounds of powder up against it and blow it in."
"Come and touch the door," cried the captain, sternly, "and we'll blow
your brains out."
"What?" cried Jarette, mockingly. "You blow my brains out, fool!--what
with?"
"This!" said Mr Denning, sharply, and he thrust the barrel of the
double gun so quickly through one of the openings left, and also through
the narrow slit formed by the partly opened door, that there was the
sound of men scuffling back, and a heavy fall, followed by a roar of
laughter.
We knew the next moment who had fallen, for Jarette's voice came to us
in an angry snarl.
"You grinning idiots," he cried, "take that!"
As he spoke there was the sharp report of a pistol, and a fearful
shriek, followed by a fall, and a low moaning as of some one in agony.
"Serve him right!" cried Jarette. "Take him below. I'll have the
doctor out and send him down."
A minute later, after we had listened to the meaning noise growing
fainter, Jarette spoke again.
"There, Berriman," he said, "that's the stuff I'm made of, so no more
nonsense; open the door and come out."
"Come and open it yourself, you half-French poodle hound," cried the
captain, "and I'll show you what stuff I'm made of, and save you the
trouble of going through a trial before reaching the hangman."
"You bragging idiot," cried Jarette, fiercely, "open the door, or I'll
serve you as we served your miserable Brymer. Do you want to go
overboard to join him?"
"No; Captain Berriman prefers to stay on board to see me pay you back in
your own coin," said the mate. "Now, sir, who's the braggart now?"
Jarette was silenced for the moment, but he recovered himself directly.
"Oh, you're there then?" he cried. "I must punish some of my lads for
only half doing their work. There, you are not so mad as Berriman is.
Never mind the fool; open the door, and don't make me savage, so that I
am tempted to go to extremities. Do you hear?" he cried, after a pause.
"I'll answer for Mr Brymer," cried the captain, "as you answered for
that miserable, treacherous boy. No, he will not open the door for you
and your pack to come in and wreck and rob. This is our stronghold till
some ship heaves in sight, and you and your gang are put in irons to
await your fate. I give you all fair warning," he cried, raising his
voice so that every one present might hear. "If you wish to escape
being shot down, keep away from that door-way; for by all that is holy
we will shoot the first ruffian who tries to open it."
"Powder!" said Jarette, laconically, "half a keg. It's their own fault,
my lads. They shall soon see who is master here."
There was a quick movement in the cabin then, and Captain Berriman
turned to Mr Frewen.
"Try and make more of an opening," he said. "We must have full play for
the guns."
The doctor nodded and drew back three of the chests a little.
"That ought to do," he said. "If one of us stands aside and watches, he
can tell the others when to fire."
"Ah! but that will require care," said the captain, quickly; "the shot
must not be at the powder, or we shall be blown up. Look here, Mr
Denning, if you will lend me your gun I think I can pick off the first
scoundrel who comes to lay the powder. Perhaps another will come, but
if he is dropped they will not try again."
"I can shoot them," said Mr Denning, quietly. "I do not like to take
life, but I feel that I must fire now."
"Then keep your gun, sir," said Captain Berriman; "you need not
hesitate, for it is a good deed to rid the earth of such wretches as
these, and remember you are fighting for your sister's sake."
"Yes," said Mr Denning, in a low voice, almost a whisper to himself,
"for my sister's sake,"--and he moved a little to one side, where he
could get a better aim and command the outer portion of the door, though
it was only through quite a slit.
"Hah!" cried Jarette, then in a triumphant tone--"but too much, my lads.
We don't want to blow out the side of the ship. She's too much value
to us now. Never mind, we'll use half of it to make a good long train.
Come, lieutenant, here's a chance for you to distinguish yourself before
the men. You shall lay the train."
"I? Lay the powder?" cried Walters, so excitedly that the men burst
into a roar of laughter.
"Bah! Don't show the white feather, boy. It must be done. What? You
won't?"
"No," said Walters, quickly. "They've got a spite against me, and will
shoot me. Let some one else."
Jarette uttered a fierce ejaculation.
"Stand aside then," he growled, "and let some one who is a man do it.
Here, any one of you come and plant this powder, and show young Walters
here how brave lads fight."
We listened full of excitement for the next moment, as every one watched
Mr Denning standing there close to the opening in the barricade, his
arms and the gun invisible as he reached through toward the saloon-door.
But there was perfect silence, not a movement to be heard, as Jarette
burst into a nasty harsh laugh.
"Don't all want to do the job?" he cried. "Not one to volunteer? Why,
you laugh at me, and call me Frenchy, and brag about your English pluck,
and not one man will come forward. Here you, Bob Hampton, your trick's
over at the wheel; come and lay this powder."
"What, to blow in the cabin-door?" came in familiar tones. "All right,
skipper; only I don't know much about powder to make trains. You wet
in, don't wild-fire on it?"
"Bah! stand aside. Here you, Blane, lay that powder close up door."
"What me, skipper? Anything in going aloft and settin' sail; but I know
no more about gunpowder than a babby."
"Get out of the way, idiot. Where's Dumlow?"
"Which here I be," growled that individual.
"Here, lay hold of this powder, and plant it, my lad, and then lay a
train."
"Take that there powder and lay a train?" said the big sailor.
"Yes."
"Not me."
"What! You dare--" cried Jarette.
"Lookye here, skipper," growled Dumlow, "don't you get poking that there
pestle in my face, 'cause it might go off."
"Yes, and it will go off," cried Jarette. "I mean to be obeyed by this
crew, as I've just shown you."
"Nay, but don't poke pestles in my face; 'cause it make me hit out, and
when I hits out I hurts. You ask some one else."
"Bah!" ejaculated Jarette; and the word sounded like the short, sharp
bark of some cur, as it reached us through the barricade.
"Goin' to plant it yourself?" said Bob Hampton.
"Yes, you brave Englishman," sneered Jarette. "I'm going to show you
what your captain can do."
"Shoot the scoundrel!" said Captain Berriman, excitedly.
"Impossible, without he comes into sight," whispered Mr Denning.
"Can't you see him?"
"No; he is pushing a bag of powder right in up against the door, and now
sprinkling handfuls of powder up to it."
"You come away," said the captain. "Quick, man! Here, every one lie
down at the far end of the saloon."
I was one of the first to run; but I came back with a can of water, and
held it to Mr Frewen.
"Can you do anything with that, sir?" I said.
"No, my lad. Quite impossible to reach it effectually."
I stood staring at the barricade and its openings for a few moments, and
then an idea struck me. I had often seen my father's gun cleaned, and
when the barrels were detached from the stack, taken them up to look
through them, binocular fashion, to see whether they were clean inside.
"Take off the barrels from that gun!" I said excitedly.
"What for?" cried Mr Frewen; but he did that which was asked all the
same, and handed the barrels to me.
"What are you going to do?" whispered the captain.
"One minute, sir, and I'll show you," I said. "Let me come there, Mr
Denning."
That gentleman altered his position a little, so that I could reach
through the opening and let the ends of the barrels rest upon the deck,
close to the powder, which I could just see scattered about the
flooring.
Directly after, I had raised my can and was carefully trickling the
water down through one of the barrels with such good effect that the
explosive grains were either saturated or borne away.
I had been sending the little stream through for some moments before it
was seen, and the first intimation we had of the mutineers noticing our
defence was the explosion of a pistol, and simultaneously a dull,
cracking sound as a bullet passed through the door and was buried in the
trunk behind it.
"That don't matter, Berriman," cried Jarette; "we have plenty of powder,
and you can't say the same about water."
I started at this, for it struck me that I had been pouring precious
drops away which might mean life. But I laughed directly after, as I
recalled the fact that we had only to drop a bucket out of the
stern-windows and haul up as much salt water as we liked.
Mr Frewen must have been thinking the same thing, for directly after he
and Mr Brymer attached pieces of new halyard to a couple of tin pails,
and threw them out of the window, and drew them up full, ready for the
next attempt to lay powder.
"No need to pour away the precious drops now," said Mr Frewen. "But we
must have down some of those chests so as to get at the powder easily."
The words had hardly left his lips when there was the sharp report of
Mr Denning's piece, followed directly after by a second shot, and the
rush of feet upon the deck.