ement,
and this we instantly did, when I had the great satisfaction of
discovering that, thanks to the skill of Doctor Burgess, and the
assiduous nursing of Mrs Jenkins and her daughter Patsy, all our
wounded, except two, were so far convalescent as to be quite fit for
ordinary duty, while the other two were also doing so favourably that
they could be made useful in a variety of ways provided that they were
not called upon to undertake any very severe physical exertion. Thus I
very soon found myself at the head of a little band of nine armed and
resolute men, each of whom was prepared to do my bidding to the death if
called upon.

We now lost no time in hustling our four prisoners down into the fore-
peak, where they could do no harm, and where, after being securely
clapped into irons, they were bade to make themselves as comfortable as
they could on top of the ship's stock of coal, while one of my men who,
from the comparatively severe character of his wounds, was least likely
to be of service to us in other directions, was stationed in the
forecastle above, fully armed, to keep an eye upon them, and see they
got into no mischief. This little matter having been satisfactorily
arranged, we next got the hatches off the after hatchway, and roused the
passengers' baggage on deck, from which the respective owners at once
proceeded to withdraw such weapons and ammunition as they possessed;
after which we struck the various packages down into the hold again and
put on the hatches.

We now mustered seventeen armed men, all told, each of whom was provided
with a firearm of some kind, while my own nine men, myself, and the
general boasted sidearms as well. Carter had no weapons of his own,
neither had the doctor nor Briggs, but three of the youngsters possessed
a brace of pistols each, which they were quite willing to lend; and with
these Carter, the doctor, and Briggs were promptly armed. This brought
our number up to twenty against the twenty-three away in the longboat;
and since we possessed the advantage over the mutineers that we had the
ship's deck as a fighting platform, I thought that we might now regard
ourselves as masters of the situation. Nevertheless I did not feel
disposed to neglect any further advantages that we might happen to
possess--for not all of our party were fighting men, and I did not know
how the civilians might behave in a hand-to-hand fight. I therefore at
once began to look round with the obj