r prove what I say; besides, likely
enough, any inquiry set on foot would only bring the matter to a head.
We must wait till we know something sure.

"You keep your ears open, my boy, and your eyes too, and I will do the
same. If it comes, and you see a chance of warning the captain of the
ship or the first lieutenant in time, you do it; but don't you do it if
you don't think there's time enough, or if you can't do it without being
seen. If it's too late, and you are found out, they would just chuck you
overboard or knock you on the head, and you will have done no good
after all, and perhaps only caused bloodshed. Like enough, if matters
go quietly, there won't be no bloodshed, and the officers and those who
stick to them will just be turned adrift in the boats, or maybe handed
over to the Spanish at the port they go into as prisoners."

Jack promised to follow the sergeant's instructions, and went below. He
thought that the men were unusually quiet, and taking his blanket--for
although some of the soldiers slept in hammocks, the majority lay on the
deck wrapped in their blankets--he lay down by the side of a gun whose
port had been opened to admit air between decks. After thinking the
matter over for some time, and wondering what would be the end of it, he
dropped off into a light sleep.

Presently he was aroused by a confused sound. Looking round cautiously,
he saw by the dim light of the lantern that most of the men were on
their feet. Some of them were taking down their firearms from the arm
racks; small groups were stooping over some of the sleeping figures; and
to the mast, close to which one of the lanterns hung, two or three
men were bound, and two soldiers with pikes were standing by them. The
crisis, then, had come, and Jack at once proceeded to carry out the plan
he had thought out after he lay down.

Very quietly he crawled out through the porthole, and then raised
himself and stood on the muzzle of the gun. There he could reach the
foot of the shrouds of the foremast, which happened to be immediately
above the port. He swung himself up, and, placing his hands on the edge
of the bulwark, cautiously looked over.

At present all was quiet there; the signal from below had not been
given, and the troops on deck--for, owing to the numbers on board,
one fourth were always on deck in fine weather--were standing about or
sitting in groups. Keeping his feet on the ledge which ran round level
with the deck, and h