The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 189 



way through the circle of his enemies. Another 

 step, and the hatchway would be reached ; but faint 

 from loss of blood, he leant for one brief moment 

 against the tiller. A savage standing behind 

 brought his war-club down with the full swing of 

 his brawny arm upon the sailor's unguarded 

 head, and even before he reached the deck a 

 dozen thirsty knives were sheathed in his body, 

 which was hurried to the side and flung over 

 board. 



Whilst these bloody deeds were being perpetrated 

 on the quarter-deck, a desperate struggle was taking 

 place throughout the ship wherever a white man 

 could be found. The sailors resisted manfully with 

 whatever weapons they could seize, and many a 

 savage fell lifeless to the deck before the sweep of 

 the handspikes with which the windlass had just 

 been worked ; but the struggle was of short duration, 

 for the poor fellows were outnumbered, and one by 

 one they yielded up their lives before the blows and 

 stabs of their enemies. 



During the brief space that the above transactions 

 really occupied, the seven men who had been sent 

 aloft to loose the sails, witnessing the carnage 

 below, attempted to get between decks by sliding 

 down the running rigging. Three fell in the 

 attempt — one of them, Stephen Weekes, the 



