dged
that the mutineers were battening and barricading the forecastle.
I unlocked the door and was going out to explore the situation, when
the doctor spoke in a weak voice--

"'Quick, Trenoweth! never mind me. I've got the main artery torn to
pieces and can't last many more minutes--but quick for the captain's
cabin and get the guns. They'll be down presently, as soon as
they've finished up there.'

"Opening the door and telling Mrs. Concanen--who although white as a
sheet never lost her presence of mind for a moment--to lock it after
me, I stole along the passage, gained the captain's cabin, found two
guns, a small keg of powder (to get at which I had to smash in a
locker with the butt-end of one of the guns), and some large shot,
brought I suppose for shooting gulls.

"I found also a large packet of revolver cartridges, but no revolver;
and it suddenly struck me that the shots already fired must have been
from the captain's revolver, taken probably from his dead body.
Yes, as I remembered the sound of the shots I was sure of it.
The mutineers had probably no other ammunition, and so far I was
their master.

"Fearful that by smashing the locker I had made noise enough to be
heard above the turmoil on deck, I returned swiftly and had just
reached the door of Concanen's cabin, when I heard a shout above, and
a man whom I recognised by the voice as Johnston, the carpenter, came
rushing down the steps crying, 'Hide me, doctor, hide me!' As Mrs.
Concanen opened the door in answer to my call, another shot was
fired, the man suddenly threw up his hands and we tumbled into the
cabin together. I turned as soon as I had locked and barricaded the
door, and saw him lying on his face--quite dead. He had been shot in
the back, just below the shoulder-blades.

"The doctor also was at his last gasp, and the floor literally swam
with blood. As we bent over him to catch his words he whispered,
'It was Railton--that--I saw. Good-bye, Alice,' and fell back a
corpse. I carried the body to a corner of the cabin, took off my
jacket and covered up his face, and turned to Mrs. Concanen. She was
dry-eyed, but dreadfully white.

"'Give me the guns,' she said quietly, 'and show me how to load
them.'

"I was doing so when I heard footsteps coming slowly down the
companion. A moment after, two crashing blows were struck upon the
door-panel and Colliver's voice cried--

"'Trenoweth, you dog, are you hiding there? Give me up t