n, I
fancy, to very few. It is an example of what courage and determination
may effect.

On board the _Glutton_, as in most large ships, we had a number of bad
characters--runaway apprentices, lawyers' clerks, broken-down tradesmen,
footmen dismissed for knavery, play-actors, tinkers, gipsies,
pickpockets, thieves of all sorts; indeed, the magistrates on shore
seemed to think nothing was too bad to send on board a man-of-war.
These men were, of course, always ready for mischief of any sort. There
is no denying it, the seamen also were often cruelly ill-treated,
fleeced on all sides, cheated out of pay, supplied with bad provisions,
and barbarously tyrannised over by their officers. Now, on the
contrary, a man-of-war's man is better fed, better lodged, better and
more cheaply clothed, and in sickness better taken care of, than any
class of labouring-men. When he has completed twenty-one years'
service, he may retire with a pension for life of from tenpence to
fourteen-pence a day; and when worn-out by age or infirmity, he may bear
up for that magnificent institution, Greenwich Hospital, there among old
comrades to end his days in peace.

The mutiny I was speaking of had been going on for some time. The just
demands of the seamen had been listened to, and their grievances
remedied, when the mutiny broke out afresh, and, instigated by
evil-disposed persons, the crews either landed their officers or put
them under confinement, and made fresh demands, many of which it was
impossible to grant. Our ship, with others of Lord Duncan's squadron,
was brought up in Yarmouth Roads. The delegates had been tampering with
us. Messages had at different times been sent on board, and I knew that
something wrong was going forward; but what it was I could not tell. I
was known to be a friend of Peter Poplar's, and no one doubted his
remaining stanch to his captain and officers, so I am proud to say that
they would not trust me.

One day I found Peter sitting down between decks, looking very grave. I
asked him if something was not the matter with him.

"A great deal, Jack," he answered; "I don't like the look of things.
You must know, Jack, that the ships at the Nore have again hoisted the
red flag, and the mutineers swear that they'll make every ship of the
fleet join them. What they now want, I don't know. They have got all
the chief grievances redressed, and everything which reasonable men
could expect granted. They'll n