pped over to him. He drew himself erect as I approached, and sang
out, "Hallo! who the devil are you?"

"I'm just out of your lazarette," said I, "where I've saved this ship
from having her stern blown out by an infernal machine!"

He bent his head forward and stared into my face, but it was too dark
for him to make anything of me. I reckoned he was the second mate; his
outline against the stars defined a square, bullet-headed, thick-necked
man. On a sudden he bawled out to the two midshipmen, who had come to
a stand on t'other side the skylight--

"Mr. Freeling, jump below and call the captain. Beg him to come on
deck at once, young gentleman."

The midshipman rushed into the cuddy.

"What's this yarn about blowing out the ship's stern?" continued the
second mate, as I rightly took him to be.

I related my story as straightforwardly as my command of words
permitted. I told him that I had wanted to get to Australia, that I
was too poor to pay my passage, that I had been unable to find
employment on board ship, that I had hidden myself in the lazarette of
the "Huntress," and that whilst there, and within the past hour, I had
seen a man fit a slow match into what I reckoned was a barrel of
gunpowder, and disappear after setting his infernal machine a-going.
And thus speaking, I pulled the machine out of my pocket, and put it
into his hand.

At this moment the captain arrived on deck. He was a tall man, with a
very deep voice, slow, cool, and deliberate in manner and speech.

"What's the matter?" he inquired, and instantly added, "Who is this
man?"

The second mate gave him my story almost as I had delivered it.

The captain listened in silence, took the infernal machine, stepped to
the skylight, under which a lamp was dimly burning, and examined the
piece of mechanism. His manner of handling it by some means sprang the
trigger, which struck the flint, and there flashed out a little
sun-bright flame that fired the match. I jumped to his side and
squeezed the fire out between my thumb and forefinger as before. The
captain told the two midshipmen to rouse up the chief mate and send the
boatswain and carpenter aft.

"Let there be no noise," said he to the second mate, "We want no panic
aboard us. Describe the man," said he, addressing me, "whom you saw
fitting this apparatus to the barrel." I did so. "Do you recognize
the person by this lad's description?" said the captain to the second
mate.

The