e door. But he felt
uneasy and restless. Instead of undressing he threw himself down on
the bunk, after placing his pistol underneath his pillow. Martin's
talk had been just suggestive enough to start his brain to working,
disturbed as he was by so many other things. He had an impulse to
rouse Stubbs. He wanted someone with whom to talk. He would also have
been more comfortable if he had been able to make sure that those bits
of parchment were still safe in his comrade's chest, where he had
locked them. If the crew once got even a suspicion that there was on
board such a golden chance as these offered, it would be a temptation
difficult for even better men to resist. He realized that if they were
able sufficiently to surrender each his own selfish individual
desires and organize compactly under a single leader, they would form
an almost irresistible force. But of course the key to the whole
situation lay in the ammunition. Without this they were helpless.
Knives and clubs could not resist powder and bullet. He became drowsy
finally and his thoughts wandered once more to the treasure and then
to Jo until his eyes closed and, though his lips still remained tense,
he slept.

He was awakened by the sound of a muffled fall in the next cabin. He
sprang to his feet, seizing his weapon. The electric light wire had
been cut so that the cabin was in suffocating darkness. By some
instinct he forced himself flat against the wall by the door. The next
second the door was flung open and two forms hurled themselves with a
grunt upon the bunk. He fired twice and darted out into the
passageway. Here all was confusion, but all was dark. Man fell against
man with oaths and wild threshing of the arms, but they all knew one
another for friends. He was for the moment safe. The doors to the
cabins of Stubbs and Danbury were wide open. He knew that either they
had escaped by some such miracle as his, or that they were beyond
help. It seemed to him that there was but one thing to do, make the
deck and collect whatever honest men were left. The mutineers were
still fighting with one another and had grown so panic-stricken that
they were making little progress towards their goal. Quick action
might even now save the ship. He heard a voice raised in a vain
endeavor to control them.

"Steady, boys, steady! Wait till we get a light."

At the head of the stairs leading to the deck he found a sentinel. He
struck at him and then grappled. The two r