"The cap'en p'raps was in the wrong at first, as I said afore, sir. You see, some men are born to authority, and some isn't, and Captain Jarvis was one of those that aren't. I don't wish to speak ill of a man, when he's dead and gone to his account, and not here to answer for himself; but I must say, if I speak the truth, that it was all through Cap'en Jarvis' fault the Gulnare came to grief and all on board murdered each other; and what weren't murdered were swept off the ship and drowned in the storm that came on afterwards, when everybody was seeking each other's blood, and so met their doom in that way—all, that is, barrin' little Peter and me, who only lived through the scrimmage and the gale to tell the story of the others' fate. The cap'en had a bad temper and didn't know how to keep it under; that was at the bottom of it all; and yet, a nicer man, when the devil hadn't got the upper hand of him, and a handsomer chap—he was better looking than me, sir," said the mate in an earnest way, as if his statement was so incredible that he hardly expected it to be believed—"yes, a nicer and a handsomer chap you never clapped eyes on in a day's run than Cap'en Jarvis! He stood a trifle taller than me, and had a jolly bearded face with merry blue eyes; but with all that and his good-humoured manner when everything was up to the nines and all plain sailing, he had old Nick's temper and could show it when he liked! We left Mobile short-handed; and when you leave port to cross the Atlantic short-handed at this time of the year, I guess, mister, you've got your work cut out for you, you have! There was only the cap'en; myself, first mate; the second officer, boatswain, and ten hands all told, includin' idlers, to navigate a ship of over eight hundred tons from Mobile to Liverpool in the very worst time of the year! A bad lookout when you come to consider it fairly as I have; and when you have a cap'en as is continually working the men to death and a-swearin' and a-drivin' at them, and they undermanned too, why it stands to reason that harm will come: you're bound to have a muss, you bet, before the voyage is through!

"We'd hardly cleared the Gulf of Florida when the weather got bad, with a foul wind and a heavy sea; and we were driven past Cape Hatteras before we could make a bit of easting in our longitude. You never saw such a rough time of it as we had. The watch below had no sooner turned in than they had to be called up again to reef topsails or make sail, for there were too few hands to be of much use without both watches worked together, and so the men had to do double tides, as it were, with neither time to eat nor sleep comfortably. To add to their hardships, they were constantly in wet clothes, as it poured with rain the whole time; besides which, the ship was so heavily laden that we were continually taking in seas over the bows as she laboured, the water washing aft of course, and drenching them who might have escaped the rain to the skin, so that not a soul aboard had a dry rag on. You can imagine, sir, how the men stomached this, particularly when there was the skipper swearing at 'em all the time, and saying that they were lazy lubbers and not worth their salt, when they were trying hard to do their best, as I must give them the credit of! I spoke to the cap'en, but it was of no use—not a bit; you might just as well have expected a capstan bar to hear reason!

"'Mr Marling,' says he, in the still way he always spoke when he was real angry. 'Mr Marling, I'm captain of my own ship, and always intend to be so as long as I can draw my breath: I'll thank you to mind your own business!'

"What could I say after that? Nothing; and so I said nothing more, although I could almost foresee what was coming, step by step!

"This dirty weather had been going on for about a fortnight, or thereabouts; the wind heading us every now and then and veering back again to the southward and westwards, accompanied by squalls of hail and rain following each other with lightning rapidly; so that no sooner had one cleared off than another was on to us, and we had to clear up everything and let the ship drive before the gale as she pleased, for it was of no use trying to make a fair wind out of a foul one any longer. As well as we could make out our reckoning, with the aid of some lunar observations Captain Jarvis booked the night before, for we were unable to see the sun long enough for our purpose, we were about some three or four hundred miles to the west of Bermuda, when, just as the clouds were breaking up blue-black against the sky, and the barometer told us in its plain language that it was coming on to blow harder, and that we would have worse weather than we had yet had, all the hands, as if with one accord, struck work—with the exception of the man at the wheel, who stuck to his post! There was no mistake about it: the watch on deck refused point-blank to go aloft when the skipper ordered them, for about the fourth time in the hour, I should think it was, to take in sail; while the watch below, in spite of the boatswain's hammering away at the fore-hatch and the capen's swearing, declared that they wouldn't rouse up, not even if the ship was sinking, and if they were shouted at any more they would sarve him out. It was a mutiny, there's no denying; a regular crisis, if ever there was one; and just what I expected, seeing as how things were going ever since we left Mobile, not three weeks before."

"Captain Jarvis," he resumed after a brief pause, "no sooner heard the men refuse to come on deck than he went below. Not to where they were in the fore-hatch—he knew a thing or two better than that—but to his cabin, and in a minute he comes up again with a revolver in each of his fists.

"'Now,' says he in a firm, hard, but quiet voice, not loud—he always spoke particularly quiet when he was angry, as I've told you; and he was angry now, if ever a man was! 'Now, you skulkers,' he says, addressing first the hands on deck—'Aloft every man-jack of you! I'll shoot the last man that's up the shrouds!' They were up in the rigging pretty smart, you bet, at that, when he had a revolver levelled dead at their heads. 'See that you stow that main-topsail in a brace of shakes! And you lubbers below, wake up there!' he exclaimed over the fore-hatch, firing a shot down below as he spoke. 'Wake up there and on deck; or, I'll riddle every mother's son of you before I count ten. You, Black Harry, I know you've set this pretty little scheme going! Up with you, or by the Lord Harry, your namesake, I'll put a bullet through your carcass!'

"With that the watch below, knowing with whom they had to deal, thought it best to give in; and up they came, Black Harry at their head, as sullen as a lot of schoolboys going up to be flogged, who had just thought they had barred out the master.

"'It's no use your grumbling,' says Cap'en Jarvis, with a queer grin on his face that was more angry-like than a pain, 'It's no use your grumbling with me! Aloft with you, and make that fore topsail all snug, and set storm staysails, for we've got something rougher coming. I'll settle with you, Master Harry, by-and-by!'"

"You haven't told me yet about this man, though I've read his name in the papers. Who was Black Harry?" asked I.

"Haven't I told you about him yet? No; then, I'll tell you all about him now, for he had more to do with the row aboard the Gulnare than anybody else! He was a regular dare-devil of a pocket-a-win, as they are called at Liverpool—a tall, lean, down-east Yankee from Boston, with jet-black hair, and a swarthy face, which made you think he had nigger blood in him and got him his name of 'Black Harry.' A powerful man and a good foremast hand; but an all-fired lazy devil about work, and as sulky as a bear when he didn't get his grub regular. He was no coward though; and no skulker in danger, as some white-livered chaps are who ought to be ashamed to ship as sailors, for he'd venture aloft sometimes when no one else would dare, and was the first man at the weather-earing when it was 'Reef topsails!' But he had a temper as skittish as the cap'en's, and couldn't stand being swore at. I've heard him many a time mutter after the captain had been going on at him. I know I'd not have liked to have said half to him that Captain Jarvis did, for Black Harry looked like a man who would never forget nor forgive a grudge.

"Well, by-and-by the hands came down from aloft; and amongst them Black Harry, who lagged behind the rest, although he had been the first in the foretop going up.

"'Come here, you lubber!' said the cap'en to him, singing out aloud as he touched the deck—'you, I mean, Black Harry. I've got a little matter to settle, I think, with you. Who incited the hands to mutiny just now? I don't forget, Master Harry—I don't forget!'

"'Neither do I!' grumbled Harry below his voice.

"'What is that, you mutinous dog?' exclaimed the cap'en, flying into a violent passion again, although he had somewhat calmed down from his former rage—'Answer me to my teeth, you scoundrel? Take that!' and he hit a drive full fair in the centre of the forehead, with the butt-end of his revolver, holding it by the barrel, felling Harry to the deck senseless, like a bullock under the poleaxe!

"Some of the crew murmured 'Shame!' But the cap'en kept up his authority. 'Silence there!' he cried out. 'Down with you, watch below, if you want to see your bunks to-night, and take that hulking carcass with you, or I'll throw it overboard!' And then the men went below, and took poor Black Harry, with them; the vessel was made snug under her jib, storm staysails, and close-reefed mainsail; and Captain Jarvis, who hadn't been off the deck, except to fetch his revolver that time, once in the twenty-four hours, returned to his cabin to have a bit of sleep, leaving me on the watch; the second officer and boatswain, who acted also as third mate, having also turned in for a caulk and gone down into the steerage.

"The sun, which we couldn't see, had set long since, before indeed that little misunderstanding had occurred about going aloft; and the moon shone feebly now and then through an occasional opening in the clouds, which had piled up atop of each other so heavy to windward that they were like a pall in the sky.

"There was only myself and the steersman aft, the rest of the watch, which were only five in number altogether, being stowed somewhere under the bulwarks amidships, trying to get an odd wink if the seas that were shipping in as the ship's bows fell would let them. Not a sound was to be heard save the whistle and screech of the wind through the cordage, and the creak of a block occasionally aloft; and I was looking out at the weather, wondering how soon the next squall would tackle us, when my arms were seized by somebody behind me, who held them down close to my sides, and a gag of a reef-knot or some piece of rope shoved into my mouth, so that I couldn't cry out.

"'Mr Marling!' says a voice, which I recognised at once as Black Harry's, whispering in my ear, 'you need not fear nothing, only keep quiet, and no harm will be done to you; but if you tries to make a noise, why, we'll have to quiet you in a way you won't like!'

"With that, you may be sure, I was as tranquil as a mouse, while they tied me down to a ring-bolt close by the cabin skylight, so that I couldn't move; but from my position I could see and hear everything that went on afterwards, although I couldn't get the gag out of my mouth so as to be able to speak.

"'Now, men,' I heard Black Harry then say aloud; 'now, we'll pay out that devil below! I wonder how he'll like his mutinous dogs at close quarters?' and he laughed a horrible bitter laugh.

"Then I heard them begin to descend the companion ladder into the captain's cabin.

"They didn't go far enough! No sooner had Black Harry placed his foot on the first stair, followed by the other mutineers, than there was a flash and a stunning explosion from below. The captain, who had the quick hearing of a hound, must have caught the sound of their tussling with me on the deck, for he was ready for them with his double-barrelled gun. I saw him distinctly by the flash through the skylight, standing at the foot of the companion, while Gripper, the second officer, was hurrying up behind him through the door leading into the steerage where our berths were. Yes, I saw the captain. He had fired one shot, and stood waiting with the other barrel ready.

"'Come on, you dogs!' I heard him exclaim as he discharged the gun. 'There's one dose of slugs, and I've got another handy for you!'

"The men from the sound appeared to shrink back for a second, but the next minute they rushed down in a body; there was a second report of the captain's gun, and I received, unbeknown to him, poor fellow—for he didn't intend it, I know—a slug right in my eye here; and for some time I was in such agony that I didn't know what occurred below, although I heard plenty of shots fired, and the sound of hand-to-hand fighting mingled with oaths, and curses, and cries.

"When I recollected myself again there was Black Harry near me surrounded by only four others, as well as I could see after wiping the blood off my face with part of my arm, which I was able to do by wriggling at my lashings; the rest must have gone under in the scrimmage.

"'Now, you villain,' I heard Black Harry say again in a voice full of spite and anger, 'I've got you! Lash him up there in the lee rigging!' says he to his fellow-murderers; and in a trice I saw the poor cap'en, quite pale and exhausted, fixed like a spread eagle in the mizzen shrouds to leeward. 'Now, you villain!' says Black Harry again, cocking one of the captain's revolvers which he had ready in his hand, 'you said you would riddle us just now if we didn't go aloft after treating us like dogs ever since we came on board your cursed ship! Well, Jarvis, you dog—Cap'en Jarvis, I beg your pardon!—I intend to riddle you now!'

"The cap'en didn't say a word; he only looked at him; but if looks could kill, his would then!

"'You dog!' said Black Harry again, after a stop to see if the captain would speak. 'I've got three slugs in my stomach, and you've swore three times at me to-day like a dog—that makes six in all; I intend to send six shots through your vile carcass without killing you if I can help it. You knocked me down on the deck with the butt-end of your pistol, and ordered my body to be taken below by the hands, or else you said you'd throw it overboard. For that outrage I'll take my last revenge, after riddling you like a sieve, by smashing in your skull, and pitching your vile carcass to the sharks—Dog!'

"With that the ruffian fired his first shot with the revolver at his powerless victim. The captain winced slightly, and I saw the bullet had carried off part of one of his ears.

"'Ha!' said Black Harry, 'nervous, are you? Here's another fillip for you.'

"But at the same moment the storm, which I had seen brewing up to windward, burst over the ship; and a tremendous wave seemed to flatten me down on the deck, the ring-bolt to which I was lashed preventing me from slipping away. When the rush of water had subsided, and I was able to hold up my head once more, my wounded eye smarting worse than ever, I saw that the mizzen and main masts with part of the foremast had been washed clean away with the shrouds, running-gear, and all their hamper, and, of course, the body of the poor captain, Black Harry, and all his companions in crime had been carried off too in the general wreck.

"How long I remained lashed to the deck of the crippled vessel with the waves dashing over me, the sport of the sea and the mark of the weather, I know not. The first thing I recollect after what appeared to be an eternity of torture, was that I found myself on board the Saracen, a screw steamer bound from New York to Southampton, which had sighted the Gulnare tossing at the mercy of the wind and waves, and sent a boat to see whether there was anybody alive on board. I was on board, alive though senseless for a time, and brought to after much kindly solicitude; so, too, was little Peter, the cabin-boy, whom the mutineers had tied up in his bunk in the forecastle, and who was also alive, though nearly starved to death. Besides our two selves, there was no other living thing; but the bodies of Gripper, the second officer, Painter, the boatswain, and those of the mutineers who had not been washed overboard, were found floating about in the cabin, all with the marks of bullet and shot wounds and other injuries, to show that they had come by a violent death after a hard struggle.

"When my senses were to the fore again, naturally I informed my salvors of all that had occurred; and as the cargo of the Gulnare was a valuable one, her hull not very much damaged, and the weather calm and favourable, the captain of the Saracen, which had so providentially come across her—and a right good fellow he has been to me!—made up his mind to salvage my old ship if he could."

"And so he towed her in here at Falmouth, and you made your depositions along with the cabin-boy, Peter, the only survivors of the catastrophe, about the facts of the case, for the benefit of the underwriters and the clearance of your own character?"

"Just so, mister," said the man with the shade over his eye, who it strikes me from certain circumstances was of American nationality; "and that's the whole story about 'Black Harry,' I guess!"

THE END.