XIGHTS IN THE GALLEY. 165 



told you/ says he. ' Aye ! aye ! Sir,' says I, and up he went. One 

 bell struck. ' Call the boatswain/ says the captain. Up he comes. 

 ' Stand by hammocks/ says the captain. No answer. ' Do you 

 hear what I say ? ' Still no answer. At last, aft comes a fauksleman, 

 one of the new batch, and up he goes to the captain, without touch- 

 ing his hat, or saying < Sir !' and asks to go on shore. ' No !' says 

 the captain. ' I will go/ said the man, and attempted to go over the 

 side. The sentry told him he must not pass ; he said he did not care 

 a d n for all the sentries in the world, and began to force his way. 

 ' Stop that man !' roared out the captain in a voice that made every- 

 body start ; he made another attempt, and fell down dead the sentry 

 had run him through with his bayonet ! 



<f There was immediately a cry among the men that a marine had 

 killed a sailor ; then the captain sung out ' He has not killed a sailor, 

 but a d d rascal.' About a dozen men immediately came aft towards 

 the captain, who drew a pistol from his pocket, and said, ' I have been 

 fifteen years in his Majesty's service, and never had a mutiny on board 

 my ship before ; if you want to take my life, you may if you can. 

 My life is my king's, and I am ready to part with it whenever his 

 service requires such a sacrifice ; but, depend upon it, my men, that 

 while I live, I will command. The first man that advances one step 

 shall die.' They all hesitated now, and stood looking at the captain, 

 who still kept his finger on the trigger ; after a bit, he says, ' My 

 men, I know all about this business. I know the ringleaders, and I 

 know those who have been led away. The ringleaders I will have 

 punished : the others I'll forgive if they immediately return to their 

 duty. So all you that have been led into this mutiny go over to the 

 larboard side of the deck, and the others remain on the starboard/ 

 This, perhaps, seems to you a foolish order ; but it wasn't, for very 

 few men could hear the captain's voice and see his fiery eye without 

 trembling. Well, so away they all sheered over the larboard side ; 

 but the captain sings out, ' Where are you all going, you blackguards, 

 do you think I don't know you ? you had better not attempt to de- 

 ceive me / and I'll be hanged, lads, if the boatswain and five men 

 didn't stand stock still ; there they were, regularly nabbed. ' Master- 

 at-arms, put all those men in irons.' The next day we got into 

 Malta, and the admiral corned in soon after ; they were all tried by 

 a court-martial. The boatswain and three men were hung, and the 

 other two got off some how or other. And before they were going 

 to be triced up, they were asked if they had anything to say. The 

 boatswain said he had. Silence was ordered, and he began e My 

 lads, if ever you mutiny again, take care to cut the throats of the 

 captain and all the officers as soon as you can ; if I had done so I 

 should not be hung to-day, and that d d rascal/ pointing to the 

 captain, ' would have been overboard long ago / and that's the way 

 he died. The whole ship's company returned to their duty, and 

 there was not a smarter ship on the station, nor one whose captain 

 was better liked, than the Comus." 



" 1 like that feller for a skipper ; he was the man to take you into 

 action; he'd have fought, wouldn't he, Will?" says Tom. 



" Aye, that he would, lad." 



