y and
his followers suggested that there should be some restrictions on his
command, or that at least he should do nothing without consulting his
officers, the captain refused to consent to this; whereupon they
imprisoned him, intending to take him to England on the charge of having
murdered Mr. Cozens.

But when the boats were ready for sailing they found there would not be
enough room for everybody. So the captain, Mr. Hamilton, and the doctor
were left on the island.

John Byron did not know they were going to do this until the last
moment. There were eighty-one men who left the island, who were
distributed in the long-boat, the cutter, and the barge.

After they had been out about two days it was thought necessary to send
back to the old station for some spare canvas. John Byron was sent back
with the barge on this errand. When he was well away from the long-boat
he told those with him he did not mean to return, but to rejoin Captain
Cheap; and they agreed to do so too.

Although they were welcomed by those left on the island, there was
little food for so many mouths, as almost everything had been carried
off by the voyagers, and for a considerable time they were forced to
live upon a kind of seaweed called slaugh, which with the stalks of wild
celery they fried in the tallow of some candles they had saved.

This poor food reduced them to a terrible condition of weakness.

At last a really fair day broke upon them, when they went out to the
remains of the wreck, and had the good fortune to hook up out of the
bottom, three casks of beef which they brought safely to shore. The good
food gave them renewed strength and energy, and again they became very
anxious to leave the island.

Accordingly they launched both boats on December 15. The captain,
Lieutenant Hamilton, and John Byron were in the barge with nine men, and
Mr. Campbell in the yawl with six. And thus they set out on their
journey northward.

Then followed weary days, during which they rowed over high seas, and
weary nights of exposure and cold, when they landed on some barren shore
for rest and to wait for daylight.

On Christmas Eve they found themselves tossing on a wide bay, and
unable by the force of the currents to double the rocky headlands that
lay in front of them. Unable, too, by the fury of the breakers to make
the land or to find harbour, they were forced to lie outside all that
night upon their oars.

They were so hungry then that th