looked upon as their friend was treated,
threw down the pauls, and refused to work any longer. Jack Handspike
alone remained firm in entreating them to obey orders. "Mr Kydd is now
master of the ship, and if we do not obey him, whom are we to obey?" he
said.

While the dispute was going on, the passengers taking no part in it, the
mist which had hitherto hung over the sea slowly lifted, and looking to
the eastward I saw a line of coast, fringed with mangrove bushes, and
blue mountains rising in the distance. "The land! the land! we are all
right!" cried some of the crew. "I for one am not going to stop here
and be bullied by an ignorant greenhorn!" cried one. "Nor I," exclaimed
another. "Well, mates, let us take the old boatswain, who was our
friend at all times, and see what is to be got on shore. Would any of
you ladies and gentlemen like to come with us?"

Captain Hyslop now stepped forward. "My men," he said, "I know what you
are likely to find on yonder coast, and I entreat you to remain on board
till we see if we can get the brig off. The probabilities are that the
boat will be upset in the surf as you attempt to land, and if not, when
you get on shore there are savage people, who are as likely as not to
murder you immediately."

"Oh, that's all humbug!" cried one of the men, "just to make us remain.
Mates, are we to go, or are we to stop and get abused by this ignorant
fellow?"

The crew, one and all, with the exception of Handspike, were in a state
of mutiny. I spoke to them, but they would not listen to me. "Well,
you may go with us," they said, "but go we will. We do not want to
leave anybody behind." Without attempting even to bring the anchor on
board, they lifted the still insensible boatswain into the boat, and in
spite of the entreaties of the ladies and Stanley's warnings, shoved
off. Kydd not till then seemed to recollect that he had pistols in his
belt. Drawing one, he senselessly fired, but the men were too far off
to be injured. They answered with loud laughs and gestures of derision,
and away they pulled. We had now only one boat left, and she was too
small to weigh the anchor. I begged Stanley and David and one of the
Mr Rowleys to come with me in her, however, to sound round the vessel.
Kydd by this time was almost beside himself with rage, and did not
interfere with us. We found, as I suspected, that the brig had driven
broadside on to a long sandbank, an eighth of a mile i