some of the hands who wished
merely to deprive the captain of his authority, and put the first mate,
who was much liked by the men, in his place; but the outbreak was taken
advantage of by a parcel of desperadoes and ne'er-do-weels, who were
returning home empty handed from the diamond diggings, and were glad of
the opportunity of plundering the ship and passengers--whence the
mutiny, from being first of an almost peaceful character, degenerated
into a scene of bloodshed and violence which it made Frank shudder to
speak about.

His father, fearing what was about to happen, and that, as he was known
as having been up the country and in the possession of jewels of great
value, the desperadoes would attempt to rob him first, placed round
Frank's neck, in the original parchment-covered parcel in which he had
received them from the bank at the diamond fields, the precious stones
he had bought, with all his own available capital as well as his
employers' money, thinking that that would be the last place where the
thieves would search for them.

"And now they are lost," added the boy with another stifled sob, "and
poor mother will be penniless."

"Nary a bit," said Seth; and pulling out the little packet by the silken
string attached round his neck--which the poor boy had not thought of
feeling for even, he was so confident of his loss--he disclosed it to
his gaze. "Is that the consarn, my b'y?" he asked.

"Oh!" exclaimed Frank in delighted surprise. "It is, with the bank seal
still unbroken, I declare!"

And opening the parchment cover he showed Ernest and the rest some
diamonds of the first water, that must have been worth several thousand
pounds.

After his father had given the parcel into his care, Frank went on to
say, events transpired exactly as he had anticipated. Most of the
passengers were robbed, and those that objected to being despoiled
tranquilly, murdered. Amongst these were his father, whom the ruffians
killed more out of spite from not finding the valuables they expected on
him. He, Frank, escaped through the kindness of one of the sailors, who
took a fancy to him, and hid him up aloft in the ship's foretop when the
men who had possession of the ship would have killed him.

"This sailor," said Frank, "was just like that gentleman there,"
pointing to Seth.

"Waal neow, that's curious," said Seth. "Was his name Sam?"

"It was," said the boy.

"This is curious," said Seth, looking round at the