e.
Though he fought bravely he was overpowered, and was even worse treated
than we had been, the monsters, aided by the doctor and barber and Mrs
Neptune, holding his arms and legs.
The captain and officers all the time in no way interfered, but seemed
to enjoy the cruel sport. They wished, indeed, to allow the sailors to
take their full fling according to their barbarous fancies.
Mark and I, seeing how our friend was treated, attempted to go to his
rescue, but we had better have remained quiet, both for his sake and our
own, for we were cuffed and kicked even worse than before, and with
difficulty again made our escape.
A double allowance of grog was served out, which made the men even more
savage than before; and when they were tired of ill-treating us they
took to rough play among themselves. Daddy Neptune's crown was torn
off, his sceptre broken in two, his wife was despoiled of her finery;
the doctor's hat and spectacles shared the same fate; he was made to
swallow his own pills, and the barber had his brush nearly shoved down
his throat.
They would have come to serious blows had not the captain ordered them
to knock off and return to their duty. The mates, with boats'
stretchers in their hands, had to rush in among them before they could
be induced to desist. Not until a breeze sprang up, and they were
ordered aloft to make sail, were they brought into anything like order.
For days afterwards Mark and I limped about the deck, with aching heads
and sore faces, and Tom Trivett could with difficulty get through his
duty.
This relaxation of discipline had no good effect on the men. They still
grumbled and growled as much as ever at every meal over the food served
out to them.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
Land ho!--Cape Frio--The Sugar-loaf Mountain--The Castle of Santa
Cruz--The harbour of Rio de Janeiro--A taste of fruit--We receive some
passengers--A gale springs up--Man overboard--Poor Tom Trivett--
Captain Longfleet's inhumanity--Mark and I are treated worse--I
overhear a conversation--A proposed mutiny--The plot--Differences will
arise--Who's to be captain?--I determine to reveal the plot--I consult
with Mark--Our determination--Southern latitudes--The Southern Cross--
The Falkland Islands--Mark escapes, but I am retaken--Highland blood--
Mark's probable fate--A battle with an albatross.
"Land ho!" was shouted from the masthead. In a short time we came off
Cape Frio, a high, b
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