20 
ST. HELENA. 
gate, where I mounted, passed slowly in front of the main guard, 
who were supposed to be concerned in the intended mutiny, and I 
proceeded gently through the town, stopping occasionally, and con- 
versing with several people I met. It seems that one of the most 
forward in the mutiny (Berwick, who has since been hanged) passed 
close to me. I did not observe him, but he w'as seen from a window, 
after I had proceeded a few yards beyond him, to turn round, and, in 
the most contemptuous manner, by his looks and the motions of his 
clenched fist and arm, fully to expi’ess his desperate intentions. 
This information did not reach me until after he was hanged. 
About five o’clock in the evening I arrived at Plantation House. I 
sent for Mr. Ford, the head overseer, to inquire regarding the charac- 
ters and dispositions of the Artillery and Infantry stationed there as a 
working party. He assured me they were all good men, and that I 
might depend on them. Lieutenant David Pritchard, whom I had 
selected to take charge of this guard, soon after arrived. I desired 
him to inspect their arms, and to get the men immediately accoutred. 
I had previously ordered supplies of musket and rifle ammunition to 
be sent, which arrived before sunset. 
“The men of the guard, consisting of thirty-two, were then 
ordered into Plantation House, and, as Captain Benjamin Hodson 
had been instructed to give a general alarm upon the first appearance 
of commotion (which would soon bring the volunteers to my post), I 
was certain, therefore, of being reinforced long before the mutineers 
could reach me ; and, under these circumstances, I had no doubt as 
to the issue, being firmly determined not to yield a single point, nor 
to suffer my person to fall into their hands. 
“ According to information I have since received, the mutiny was 
not to have broken out until the morning of the 25th. It had been 
settled by the mutineers that when the troops paraded for relieving 
the guard, the whole of the regiment, joined by the main guard 
on duty, after seizing their officers, should march to Plantation 
House and seize me ; but, most providentially, the measures I had 
adopted made a change in their plan ; and the ringleaders, seeing I 
was preparing, considered that no time should be lost, and 
therefore they commenced their operations within five hours 
after I had left the Castle.” 
The brains of the mutineers were not idle either, and, in- 
stead of directing their attention at once to seizing the person 
