Hislop and I selected one or two as trophies of our victory, but Manuel Gautier tossed all the rest overboard.
Ten pairs of handcuffs were then thrown down. On this a tremendous row ensued among the culprits, who were only quelled on seeing the muzzle of the brass nine appear again; and in a few minutes Antonio, Ojeda, and eight others were forced up the hatchway, and dragged aft to the quarter-deck.
The mutineers then came sullenly up, and the number of cuts and bruises about them showed how severely they had been handled.
On their knees, before Fra Anselmo, the Spaniards made a solemn promise of peaceful and good behavior for the future; as for the Lascars, it was deemed advisable to keep their tindal as a hostage for their conduct in time to come.
When I went aft I found him lying prostrate over the gun to which he was bound, incapable of speech, and literally foaming at the mouth with impotent rage.
Tom Lambourne laughed, and said,—
"Master Rodney, always tie the hands of a Lascar, if you wish to make him hold his tongue."
"Why?"
"Because they are like a Chinese; they can never speak when their hands are tied. They can only sputter and choke like this old mountebank here."
Those who returned to their duty received bandages, wadding, &c., for their cuts and bruises, and even a tot of wine each, in token of amity. The three wounded men were placed under the care of the surgeon, and the dead Lascar was buried by his countrymen, who cast him over to leeward, when a couple of sharks soon took care of him; for we saw a black crooked fin on one side, and the white belly of a second monster on the other, as he turned up open-mouthed.