CHAPTER XIX.
MUTINY.
Fortunately mutinies frequently come to a head prematurely. On the “Rose” a jealousy hatched between rival factions of the plotters, so that before they were any of them in actual readiness, one faction, in order to be ahead of and therefore in command over the other, rushed upon the quarter-deck one night and made a sudden descent on Captain Phipps, who happened for the moment to be there alone.
Phipps became renowned for his presence of mind and courage. On this occasion he promptly knocked down three or four of the ruffians, and then with a loaded revolver and a handy marlin spike, he awed the others into submission before the alarm had even time to spread. The malefactors being summarily placed in irons and thrown into the hold, the insurrection below decks retired into the dark corners, to knit itself anew into shape.
The sailors now recognized the necessity for uniting their forces. Moreover, the faction which had been less precipitate, gained the confidence of those half-coward, half-demon followers, or human jackals, who were willing to urge the lions of the fo’castle on to strike the blows of death, content if they could then sneak upon the scene for a feast of remains. Thus a better plan was laid, while the mutineers dissembled and lulled even the suspicious Phipps into a sense of security that he had not possessed before the overt outbreak, which he had been able to quell single-handed.
The plotters found no opportunity of effecting their designs for several weeks. At length, however, Phipps steered his vessel into a tiny harbor, bitten by the sea into the side of a small, uninhabited island, which was even minus a name. This he did for the purpose of reshipping the stores, in the hold, a recent storm having shifted this cargo until the “Rose” listed to port dangerously, and leaked.
The crew, in silence and obediently enough, constructed a bridge to shore and carried the stores to land, heaping them up in piles, on the beach.
The unlading being accomplished, the crew desired permission to rest in the shade of the near-by woods. This was granted. Once in retirement here, they conceived a plan without delay whereby the ship should fall into their hands that night.
Already they had managed to purloin a complement of arms. They had knives, a few pistols, hatchets and several cutlasses. The stores being ashore, the ship was at their mercy. Their plan was simple enough. They would remain away from the shore until seven o’clock, when they would proceed to the ship in a body, overpower Phipps, Rust, the beef-eaters and the few other faithful souls on board, seize the “Rose” and leave her captain and his friends on the island, to starve. There was but one element lacking—the ship’s carpenter. The “Rose” having sprung a leak, in the storm, was regarded by the sailors as no longer seaworthy, until the carpenter should put her right. He therefore became a necessary adjunct to their numbers.
The carpenter, on being summoned to appear among them by the crew, listened to their plan with horror. However, he was not a coward and he had his wits about him. He nodded as if in approval of the plan, the more readily, perhaps, as he was threatened with death if he dared refuse to become one of the murderous gang. Then he informed them that some of his tools he would much require, to further the plot.