THE "GLOBE" MUTINY 135 



as Cyrus Plummer of the Junior ''wanted to take the ship and 

 thought that could never be done until the captain and officers 

 were killed" ? Is it surprising that, once in a while, a man Hke 

 Comstock fell a victim to mania, and, having ''tasted blood," 

 ran amuck? 



Unquestionably Joseph Thomas, whose flogging had been the 

 immediate occasion of the mutiny, had known Comstock's 

 murderous plans; and Thomas Lilliston, who had gone with 

 ax and boat-knife to the very door of the cabin, had obviously 

 been concerned in the plot, although he did not go below at the 

 time. But the pledged mutineers were now only half-a-dozen 

 men of that little crew; they had no assurance of the support of 

 the others, and much reason to doubt it. 



When the new leaders of the ship's company appointed young 

 George Comstock as steward, in place of the Negro William 

 Humphries, he accepted the post without demur, as was na- 

 tural enough under the circumstances; and for a day and a 

 night he performed its duties without incident. But on the 

 evening of January 28th, having occasion to enter the cabin, 

 he surprised Humphries in the act of loading a pistol. 



"What are you doing that for?" he demanded. 



"I have heard something very strange, and Fm going to be 

 ready for it," Humphries rephed. 



George thereupon faced about and hurried with the news to 

 his brother, who went straight to the cabin with Payne, whom 

 he had made his mate. 



Humphries, pistol in hand, was by no means willing to talk 

 freely, and tried to evade Comstock's questions. But Comstock 

 finally extracted from him the story of a plot between Gilbert 

 Smith and Peter Kidder to retake the ship, which Smith and 

 Kidder promptly and flatly contradicted. 



So the next morning Comstock ordered a trial. He appointed 

 two men to serve as a jury, and put Smith and Kidder and 

 Humphries, guarded by six men with muskets, through the 

 pretense of an examination. 



Comstock, according to the narrative of Hussey and Lay, 

 then spoke as follows: — 



