er could find a word to say. At length, however,
the engineer so far recovered his powers of speech as to ejaculate:

"But--but--good heavens! what will become of the women and children?
And how is it, sir, that, if what you state be true, _you_ are free--as
you apparently are?"

"You are all perfectly safe--I hope and believe--at all events for the
present. And the price of your safety is a promise on my part to
faithfully navigate the ship to the best of my ability for the
mutineers," answered Ned with quivering lips; and then suddenly and
completely overcome by a sense of his desolate and desperate situation,
the poor lad turned away, buried his face in his hands, and burst into
tears.

Doctor Henderson appeared to be too thoroughly paralysed with surprise
and consternation to say or do anything just then; but Mr Gaunt at once
rose to his feet, and, laying his hand kindly on the young fellow's
shoulder, said:

"There, don't give way, Ned, I ought not to have spoken so harshly, but
I was rather `taken aback' as you sailors say. Sit down, my lad, and
tell us all about it, and then we must see if we cannot devise a means
to recover possession of the ship, and restore their freedom to poor
Captain Blyth and Mr Manners."

Quickly recovering his self-control, Ned seated himself on the edge of
his bunk, and briefly related to his astonished listeners all that had
occurred during the preceding night, winding up by saying:

"As to retaking the ship, I am afraid there is scarcely a chance of our
succeeding in that, for the entire crew seem to have been completely won
over by that fellow Williams, and to be thoroughly united in their
determination to try their fortunes as pirates--for that, as I
understand it, is what it all amounts to; so you see there are only our
three selves against all hands for'ard--for they seem determined to keep
poor Captain Blyth and Manners close prisoners until they can be landed
somewhere--and what can we three do against so many? Moreover, I have
been ordered to particularly impress upon you that, whilst the mutineers
are at present extremely averse to bloodshed, anything like a suspicious
action on your part will be looked upon as premeditated treachery, _and
treated as such_. Those were Williams' very words. So, whilst I shall
be only too glad to take my part in any feasible scheme which you may be
able to devise, I feel it my duty to warn you that we must all act with
the utmost ci