scape a second
time.

Directly abaft the capstan was the fore-hatch, over which lay the path
of those who walked around at the bars. Ordinarily the hatch was closed
when the capstan was used; but, on the present occasion, a plank had
been placed across the aperture, to avoid the necessity of putting on
the hatch, and thus excluding the air from the kitchen, where the cooks
were baking their daily batch of bread.

"Heave round!" said the first lieutenant.

"Heave round!" repeated the second lieutenant; and the hands at the
capstan began their circular march.

By some means not observed by the vigilant officers, the plank over the
fore-hatch slowly travelled along until one end of it barely caught on
the combing of the hatch. Half a dozen seamen had given it a kick with
their heels as they passed over it, and it was soon in condition to
drop into the steerage below. Little stepped upon it, and down it went.
Releasing his hold of the bar, he dropped upon the steps below, and
disappeared. Sheffield followed him, and then Ibbotson. The hands at
the other side of the capstan took care that the party should keep
moving. A few well-disposed boys, when they came to the hatch,--which
was not more than four feet wide,--leaped across it, as any of them
might have done, if they had not been infected with the spirit of
mischief.

"Avast heaving!" shouted the second lieutenant.

At this instant one of the lambs was on the combing of the hatch, and
he must either go over or hang by the bar; so he pushed along, and his
movement brought another into a similar position. Seeing how the case
was, the rogues kept the capstan going, in spite of the commands of the
officers, until two thirds of the gang had dropped into the steerage.
It was finally suspended by the efforts of the excited officers, who
took hold of the bars with their own hands, and counteracted the
efforts of the rogues.

The young rascals in the steerage pretended to be hurt more seriously
than they were, though some of them had struck the steps or the floor
below with force enough to make them feel a little sore. They began to
limp, and to rub their shins and shoulders, their heads and arms, very
vigorously, as though they believed that friction was a sovereign
remedy for aching bones.

"Why didn't you stop, Hunter, when I ordered you to do so?" demanded
Leavitt, indignantly.

"I couldn't, sir," replied the lamb, speaking only the simple truth.

"Yes, you could