I hear, at such a job.--Now, gentlemen all, we can but die once; let us
do it well while we are about it."

This spirited address had a great effect, and whatever sense of
helplessness had been caused by the disparity of our numbers and the
strong position of the mutineers, gave way to a desperate resolve to
give a good account of ourselves before we yielded up the ship.

I could not help believing that some of the older and more experienced
hands, though now borne down by the general feeling of insubordination,
would side with us if only we could show a strong hand. If so, there
would not be seamanship enough in the rest to set a topsail or read a
chart; and every moment the breeze was freshening and promising us a
lively morning.

The _Zebra_ still hung listlessly in the water, but any moment now she
might get under way. There was no time therefore to be lost in getting
unobserved at the forward guns, which I was convinced was only to be
done by dropping overboard and swimming round to the stem, where there
was sufficient hanging tackle to help oneself on board with.

I secured the services of the master's mate in this perilous venture--a
tough sea-dog who was ready for anything, provided it was out of the
commonplace. This business, I promised him, would at least be that.

The quartermaster had charge of the helm.

"Look alive, my lads," said he, as we prepared to let ourselves
overboard; "her head may go round any moment. As she lies you can drop
on to it easy. Take a line with you, and pay out as you go, as you'll
need it to come back by. Over you go."

We secured our pistols as best we could against the water, and then one
after the other dropped over the stern and struck out for the peak. The
ship was already beginning to sway on the breeze, and once or twice as
we kept close under her side we were in peril of being sucked under or
else crushed down by her lurches. However, we managed to reach the
hanging tackle below the bowsprit without misadventure; and making fast
the end of the line we carried, so that it hung close on the water-line
from stem to stern, we began to haul ourselves, with our knives between
our teeth, up into the shrouds.

While we were doing so the ship swung round into the wind, and began to
move through the water.

As soon as we got our heads level with the gunwale we could dimly see
the forecastle deck before us, and the breeches of the two twenty-four
pounders, pointed as