THE MUTINEERS ***
Produced by Paul Hollander, Lazar Liveanu and the PG Distributed Proofreaders
THE MUTINEERS
_A tale of old days at sea and of adventures in the Far East as Benjamin Lathrop set it down some sixty years ago_
by Charles Boardman Hawes
_Illustrated_
_To_ D.C.H.
_TO PAY MY SHOT_
_To master, mate, and men of the ship Hunter, whose voyage is the backbone of my story; to Captain David Woodard, English mariner, who more than a hundred and twenty years ago was wrecked on the island of Celebes; to Captain R.G.F. Candage of Brookline, Massachusetts, who was party to the original contract in melon seeds; and to certain blue-water skippers who have left sailing directions for eastern ports and seas, I am grateful for fascinating narratives and journals, and indebted for incidents in this tale of an earlier generation._
_C.B.H._
CONTENTS
I IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR CANTON, CHINA
I My Father and I Call on Captain Whidden II Bill Hayden III The Man Outside the Galley IV A Piece of Pie V Kipping
II IN WHICH WE ENCOUNTER AN ARAB SHIP
VI The Council in the Cabin
VII The Sail with a Lozenge-Shaped Patch VIII Attacked IX Bad Signs X The Treasure-Seeker
III WHICH APPROACHES A CRISIS
XI A Hundred Thousand Dollars in Gold XII A Strange Tale XIII Trouble Forward XIV Bill Hayden Comes to the End of His Voyage
IV IN WHICH THE TIDE OF OUR FORTUNES EBBS
XV Mr. Falk Tries to Cover His Tracks XVI A Prayer for the Dead XVII Marooned XVIII Adventures Ashore
V IN WHICH THE TIDE TURNS
XIX In Last Resort XX A Story in Melon Seeds XXI New Allies XXII We Attack XXIII What We Found in the Cabin
VI IN WHICH WE REACH THE PORT OF OUR DESTINATION
XXIV Falk Proposes a Truce XXV Including a Cross-Examination XXVI An Attempt to Play on Our Sympathy XXVII We Reach Whampoa, but Not the End of Our Troubles
VII OLD SCORES AND NEW AND A DOUBTFUL WELCOME
XXVIII A Mystery Is Solved and a Thief Gets Away XXIX Homeward Bound XXX Through Sunda Strait XXXI Pikes, Cutlasses, and Guns XXXII "So Ends"
ILLUSTRATIONS
"_At 'em, men! At 'em! Pull, you sons of the devil, pull_!"
_Suddenly, in the brief silence that followed the two thunderous reports, a pistol shot rang out sharply, and I saw Captain Whidden spin round and fall_.
_We helped him pile his belongings into his chest ... and gave him a hand on deck_.
"_Sign that statement, Lathrop," said Captain Falk_.
_He cut from the melon-rind a roughly shaped model of a ship and stuck in it, to represent masts, three slivers of bamboo_.
[Illustration: "_At 'em, men! At 'em! Pull, you sons of the devil, pull_!"]
I
IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR CANTON, CHINA
CHAPTER I
MY FATHER AND I CALL ON CAPTAIN WHIDDEN
My father's study, as I entered it on an April morning in 1809, to learn his decision regarding a matter that was to determine the course of all my life, was dim and spacious and far removed from the bustle and clamor of the harbor-side. It was a large room paneled with dark wood. There were books along the walls, and paintings of ships, and over the fireplace there stood a beautiful model of a Burmese junk, carved by some brown artist on the bank of the Irawadi.
