“To steal a march on the mutineers, to seize their ringleaders, and to lash them down in their berths,” he answered. His plan was generally approved of. We had now altogether twelve or fourteen persons prepared for the expected emergency. It wag important to communicate with Spratt, to collect the men forward who could be trusted. I volunteered immediately to do this. I knew that there was considerable risk, for I had already had an example of the way Cobb and his associates would treat me if they suspected my object. Galling Solon, however, I went forward. The watch were standing, with their hands in their pockets, on the topgallant forecastle.
“Keep a bright look out, my lads,” said I. “We are not far off the land, and it won’t do to run the ship ashore.”
I wanted to ascertain who the men were, but none of them spoke I felt pretty sure that one of them was Cobb. Presently I saw Mr Barwell come up the fore-hatchway. I knew him by his dress and figure.
“A fine night, Mr Barwell,” said I, as he stepped up on the topgallant forecastle. “It’s a sort of night you landsmen don’t often meet with, I suspect.”
“Not often, youngster,” he answered. “But one might suppose, from the way you talk, that you had been all your life afloat.”
“No, it’s my first voyage, like yours, Mr Barwell; only, as you see, I have taken kindly to the life; now, you probably would never become a better seaman than you are now,” I could not help replying. “However, if you have a fancy to learn, I will teach you to knot and splice, and show you all I know myself.”
“Thank you, but I am contented to know how to make shoes,” he drawled out, in quite a different tone to that in which he had before spoken. I was convinced that Mr Henley was right.
“Mend shoes! I wouldn’t wish for a better man at the weather earing when reefing topsails in a gale of wind—that is to say, if you were but a seaman,” I observed, laughing, as I turned to go aft.
He started, and my remarks evidently puzzled him not a little, as I intended they should. As I was just abaft the main-mast, I heard my name called, and looking under the booms, I discovered Tommy Bigg.
“Just step this way, sir, in case I should be seen,” he whispered. “I have heard more of their plans. They are going to shut up Spratt and the rest who won’t side with them in the fore-peak, and then hurry aft and seize the arms, lock the cabin-doors, and lash the officers down in their berths. They have divided themselves into three parties, and they think that the whole work can be done in a couple of minutes or so. If any resist on deck, they vow that they’ll knock them overboard. They’ll not commit murder if they can help it, they say, but they’ll not stand on ceremony about the matter.”