ing of the wind over the
sea; and then arose the most terrific hubbub to which I had ever been
doomed to listen--shrieks, groans, and curses from those injured by the
fall of, or buried under, the wreckage from aloft; cries of "We're
sinking! we're sinking! God help us!" people calling each other's
names; and the voices of Captain Dacre and Mr Murgatroyd shouting
orders. Then, all in a moment there arose among the miners a cry of
"The boats! the boats! Let's launch the boats!" instantly followed by a
rush of the whole crowd of them on to the poop, where as many as could
swarmed into the two quarter boats hanging at the davits. These two
boats would not hold much more than a quarter of their number, and the
moment that this was discovered there arose a sanguinary fight for the
possession of the two frail craft, those who were crowded out drawing
their knives and attacking the other party. Then Murgatroyd suddenly
appeared on the poop with a brace of revolvers in his hands, which he
levelled at the fighting, surging mob.

"Come out of those boats, you cowardly blackguards; come out, I say, and
stand by to obey orders! D'ye hear, there, what I say? You there with
the red head, I'm talking to you: come out of that boat, or by God I'll
shoot! You won't? Then take that,"--his pistol flashed as he spoke.
"I'll soon see who is master here!"

The next instant the brave fellow was down on the deck, stabbed in a
dozen places from behind, and the life kicked and trampled out of him by
the fighting, panic-stricken crowd of miners, who were now simply beside
themselves with terror, and practically as irresponsible as so many wild
beasts.

At this juncture the skipper, with some half a dozen seamen to support
him, arrived upon the scene from forward--where he had apparently
rushed, at the first alarm, to investigate the condition of the ship;
and, pressing his way into the heart of the howling, struggling mob,
endeavoured to bring them to their senses by assuring them that there
were boats enough for all, but that their only chance of being saved lay
in allowing the sailors access to the tackles so that the boats might be
properly launched. But before the poor fellow could get any further,
he, too, went down and disappeared, amid shouts of "Our lives is as good
as yours! We've got the boats, and we mean to keep 'em!" and so on.
And, in the height of the confusion, someone cut the bow tackle of the
larboard quarter boat,