better odds than we had at starting. We
were seven to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that's as bad to
bear."[1]

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The mutineers were soon only eight in number, for the man shot by
Mr. Trelawney on board the schooner died that same evening of his
wound. But this was, of course, not known till after by the faithful
party.

PART V

MY SEA ADVENTURE

CHAPTER XXII

HOW I BEGAN MY SEA ADVENTURE

There was no return of the mutineers--not so much as another shot out of
the woods. They had "got their rations for that day," as the captain put
it, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the
wounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside in spite of the
danger, and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at, for horror
of the loud groans that reached us from the doctor's patients.

Out of the eight men who had fallen in the action, only three still
breathed--that one of the pirates who had been shot at the loophole,
Hunter, and Captain Smollett; and of these the first two were as good as
dead; the mutineer, indeed, died under the doctor's knife, and Hunter, do
what we could, never recovered consciousness in this world. He lingered
all day, breathing loudly, like the old buccaneer at home in his
apoplectic fit; but the bones of his chest had been crushed by the blow
and his skull fractured in falling, and some time in the following night,
without sign or sound, he went to his Maker.

As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but not dangerous.
No organ was fatally injured. Anderson's ball--for it was Job that shot
him first--had broken his shoulder-blade and touched the lung, not badly;
the second had only torn and displaced some muscles in the calf. He was
sure to recover, the doctor said, but in the meantime, and for weeks to
come, he must not walk nor move his arm, nor so much as speak when he
could help it.

My own accidental cut across the knuckles was a flea-bite. Dr. Livesey
patched it up with plaster, and pulled my ears for me into the bargain.

After dinner the squire and the doctor sat by the captain's side a while
in consultation; and when they had talked to their hearts' content, it
being then a little past noon, the doctor took up his hat and pistols,
girt on a cutlass, put the chart in his pocket, and with a musket over
his shoulder, crossed the palisade on the north side, and set off briskly
throug