On the morning following the seizure of the _Princess Royal_ by her
misguided crew, the day broke tardily, revealing to the mutineers a
wild, threatening sky, a high and increasing sea, the curling
foam-crests of which raced after the ship menacingly, and an unbroken
horizon all round. Not a solitary sail of any description was visible;
they were alone, at the mercy of the towering mountain-surges, and of
the gale which howled deafeningly past them. The sight which on that
morning presented itself from the poop of the crippled ship was one to
make the stoutest heart quail, to impress the onlooker with an
overpowering sense of his own insignificance compared with Him who holds
the ocean in the hollow of His hand, and of the blasphemous arrogance of
those who would presume to take upon themselves one of the functions of
the Almighty, and, in the blindness of their anger, attempt to mete out
to their fellow-men that justice which it is His alone to repay.
Yet no such idea presented itself to the mutineers; or, if it did, each
man was careful to conceal it from all the rest. They had been
systematically down-trodden and ill-treated from the commencement of the
voyage; their lives had been made a burden to them; and now--having at
last been provoked into the throwing off of their yoke of insupportable
bondage--they thirsted for revenge upon the authors of their miseries.
As might be expected, the whole internal economy of the ship was upset
from the moment that she fell into the hands of the mutineers. Their
first act, on the morning in question, was to transfer the male
passengers from the cabin to the forecastle, and to remove their own
belongings aft into the state-rooms thus rendered vacant. The ladies,
of whom, fortunately, there were only half a dozen on board, were
permitted for the present to retain possession of their state-rooms,
being given to understand, however, that it was only upon the express
condition that they were to make no attempt whatever to meddle with the
arrangements of the mutineers, nor to communicate in any way with the
male passengers confined in the forecastle.
These arrangements completed, Rogers ordered the steward to prepare and
serve to the mutineers in the saloon the best breakfast that the
resources of the ship would allow; the passengers in the forecastle to
be served with such a meal as ordinarily fell to the lot of the seamen;
while the deposed captain and the two mates were to be left entirely
without food of any kind. These orders were carried out to the letter;
the unfortunate ladies being compelled to take their seats as usual at
the breakfast table, and share the meal of the mutineers.
This being over, the table was cleared; spirits and tobacco were called
for, and Rogers, from his seat at the head of the saloon-table, gave
orders that the captain and the two mates should be brought aft, and put
upon their trial before a court of the whole crew.
"There's one more as I votes we try at the same time, and that's the
sodger-officer as got poor Dicky Rudd his flogging," observed one of the
men.
"Very well," assented Rogers, "bring him along, too, mates; I intended
to take him by hisself, but it don't matter; bring the whole four of
'em."
In a few minutes Captain Arnold, Nicholls the chief mate, and Thomson
the second mate, with Lieutenant Walford, were ushered into the saloon,
handcuffed, and guarded by eight armed mutineers.
"The prisoners is before the court," announced Talbot, in a loud voice,
anxious to make the proceedings partake as much of the character of a
ceremonial as possible.
The four men were then ordered to range themselves in line at the foot
of the table, an order which, after a little hesitation, they sullenly
obeyed.
Meanwhile, the mutineers, having been served with tobacco and brandy,
had lighted their pipes and provided themselves, each man, with a stiff
rummer of grog. A cursory observer would possibly have thought the
scene grotesque; but the four men ranged at the foot of the table
speedily detected in the countenances of their self-constituted judges,
an expression of stern determination which caused their hearts to sink
and their cheeks to blanch with sudden fear.
A low-toned consultation now ensued between Rogers and those nearest
him, in which Talbot was summoned to take part. At its conclusion the
latter withdrew a little apart, and Rogers, turning to the captain,
said--
"Robert Arnold, yours is the first case. Who is the prosecutor?"
"I am," answered Talbot, "on behalf of the whole crew."
"Very good," acquiesced Rogers. "Benjamin Talbot, state y'ur case."