Jack
Brown's jaw drop placed his hands to his sides, and lifting up first one
leg and then the other, as if in an agony of spasmodic delight, bent
over first to starboard and then to larboard, and laughed silently till
the tears ran down his cheeks.

"I say, sir--I say," continued the lieutenant, pushing up his bandage a
little, "that such conduct is disgraceful, sir; and what is more, I
say--"

The lieutenant did not finish the sentence then, for in him angry
excitement he had continued his blind walk, extending it more and more
till he had approached close to where the carpenter had sawn out several
of the ragged planks torn by the previous night's explosion, and as he
lifted his leg for another step it was right over the yawning opening
into the men's quarters in the forecastle below.

CHAPTER NINE.

BLIND PROCEEDINGS.

It would have been an ugly fall for the lieutenant, for according to the
wholesome custom observed by most mechanics, the carpenter had turned
the damaged hatchway into a very pleasant kind of pitfall, such as the
gentle mild Hindoo might have dug for his enemy the crafty tiger, with
its arrangements for impaling whatever fell.

In this case Chips had all the ragged and jagged pieces of plank
carefully stuck point upwards, with a couple of augers, a chisel or two,
and a fair amount of gimlets and iron spike-like nails, so that it would
have been impossible for his officer have fallen without receiving one
or two ugly wounds.

Just in the nick of time, however, Jack Brown, the boatswain, darted
forward and gave the lieutenant a tremendous push, which sent him clear
of the opening in the deck, but in a sitting position under the bulwark,
against which his head went with a goodly rap.

"Mutiny, by Jove!" he roared, in astonished fury. "Marines, fix
bayonets! Run that scoundrel through."

"Beg your honour's pardon," began Jack Brown, offering his hand to
assist the astonished commander to rise.

"It's a lie, sir! How dare you say it was an accident?" cried the
lieutenant, struggling up and readjusting the handkerchief tied round
his injured head, and his cocked hat over that. "It's mutiny, sir, rank
mutiny. You struck your officer, sir, and you'll be shot. Corporal,
take this man below. In irons, sir, in irons."

"But your honour would have gone through the hole squelch on to the
lower deck," growled Jack Brown in an injured tone.

"Silence, sir," roared the lieutenant. "Corpo