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had brought with me the two pump-handles, one of which I secured near the companion-way, to be ready for
use when required.
I now steadied myself as well as possible so as to have a good view of all that was passing within, and
endeavoured to nerve myself to the task of descending among the mutineers when Peters should make a signal
to me, as agreed upon. Presently he contrived to turn the conversation upon the bloody deeds of the mutiny,
and by degrees led the men to talk of the thousand superstitions which are so universally current among
seamen. I could not make out all that was said, but I could plainly see the effects of the conversation in the
countenances of those present. The mate was evidently much agitated, and presently, when some one
mentioned the terrific appearance of Rogers' corpse, I thought he was upon the point of swooning. Peters now
asked him if he did not think it would be better to have the body thrown overboard at once as it was too
horrible a sight to see it floundering about in the scuppers. At this the villain absolutely gasped for breath, and
turned his head slowly round upon his companions, as if imploring some one to go up and perform the task.
No one, however, stirred, and it was quite evident that the whole party were wound up to the highest pitch of
nervous excitement. Peters now made me the signal. I immediately threw open the door of the
companion-way, and, descending, without uttering a syllable, stood erect in the midst of the party.
The intense effect produced by this sudden apparition is not at all to be wondered at when the various
circumstances are taken into consideration. Usually, in cases of a similar nature, there is left in the mind of the
spectator some glimmering of doubt as to the reality of the vision before his eyes; a degree of hope, however
feeble, that he is the victim of chicanery, and that the apparition is not actually a visitant from the old world of
shadows. It is not too much to say that such remnants of doubt have been at the bottom of almost every such
visitation, and that the appalling horror which has sometimes been brought about, is to be attributed, even in
the cases most in point, and where most suffering has been experienced, more to a kind of anticipative horror,
lest the apparition might possibly be real, than to an unwavering belief in its reality. But, in the present
instance, it will be seen immediately, that in the minds of the mutineers there was not even the shadow of a
basis upon which to rest a doubt that the apparition of Rogers was indeed a revivification of his disgusting
corpse, or at least its spiritual image. The isolated situation of the brig, with its entire inaccessibility on
account of the gale, confined the apparently possible means of deception within such narrow and definite
limits, that they must have thought themselves enabled to survey them all at a glance. They had now been at
sea twenty-four days, without holding more than a speaking communication with any vessel whatever. The
whole of the crew, too- at least all whom they had the most remote reason for suspecting to be on board- were
assembled in the cabin, with the exception of Allen, the watch; and his gigantic stature (be was six feet six
inches high) was too familiar in their eyes to permit the notion that he was the apparition before them to enter
their minds even for an instant. Add to these considerations the awe-inspiring nature of the tempest, and that
of the conversation brought about by Peters; the deep impression which the loathsomeness of the actual corpse
had made in the morning upon the imaginations of the men; the excellence of the imitation in my person, and
the uncertain and wavering light in which they beheld me, as the glare of the cabin lantern, swinging violently
to and fro, fell dubiously and fitfully upon my figure, and there will be no reason to wonder that the deception
had even more than the entire effect which we had anticipated. The mate sprang up from the mattress on
which he was lying, and, without uttering a syllable, fell back, stone dead, upon the cabin floor, and was
hurled to the leeward like a log by a heavy roll of the brig. Of the remaining seven, there were but three who
had at first any degree of presence of mind. The four others sat for some time rooted apparently to the floor,
the most pitiable objects of horror and utter despair my eyes ever encountered. The only opposition we
experienced at all was from the cook, John Hunt, and Richard Parker; but they made but a feeble and
irresolute defence. The two former were shot instantly by Peters, and I felled Parker with a blow on the head
from the pump-handle which I had brought with me. In the meantime, Augustus seized one of the muskets
lying on the floor and shot another mutineer Wilson through the breast. There were now but three remaining;
but by this time they had become aroused from their lethargy, and perhaps began to see that a deception had
been practised upon them, for they fought with great resolution and fury, and, but for the immense muscular
CHAPTER 8 38
strength of Peters, might have ultimately got the better of us. These three men were -- Jones, Greely, and
Absolom Hicks. Jones had thrown Augustus to the floor, stabbed him in several places along the right arm,
and would no doubt have soon dispatched him (as neither Peters nor myself could immediately get rid of our
own antagonists), had it not been for the timely aid of a friend, upon whose assistance we, surely, had never
depended. This friend was no other than Tiger. With a low growl, he bounded into the cabin, at a most critical
moment for Augustus, and throwing himself upon Jones, pinned him to the floor in an instant. My friend,
however, was now too much injured to render us any aid whatever, and I was so encumbered with my
disguise that I could do but little. The dog would not leave his hold upon the throat of Jones -- Peters,
nevertheless, was far more than a match for the two men who remained, and would, no doubt, have dispatched
them sooner, had it not been for the narrow space in which he had to act, and the tremendous lurches of the
vessel. Presently he was enabled to get hold of a heavy stool, several of which lay about the floor. With this he
beat out the brains of Greely as he was in the act of discharging a musket at me, and immediately afterward a
roll of the brig throwing him in contact with Hicks, he seized him by the throat, and, by dint of sheer strength,
strangled him instantaneously. Thus, in far less time than I have taken to tell it, we found ourselves masters of
the brig.
The only person of our opponents who was left alive was Richard Parker. This man, it will be remembered, I
had knocked down with a blow from the pump-handle at the commencement of the attack. He now lay
motionless by the door of the shattered stateroom; but, upon Peters touching him with his foot, he spoke, and
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