The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

A FIGHT FOR LIFE. 397
Y
HKING IJOWN THE HATCHWAY.
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several of them had been shot down, and all their efforts to get at ns were
of no avail. There were about sixty men in the crew, and, as we had over
a thousand coolies on board, we had numbers against ns fearfully. Bat
they liad no fire-arms, while we had a good supply of rifles and pistols,
with plenty of ammunition. At the time of the outbreak there were not
far from a hundred coolies on deck ;
but we drove them forward, and kept
so large a guard over them that they could not have done anything to help
their friends below if they had been disposed to do so.
" We got out of water, and the only Avay to reach wliat we had on
board was by going down througli the hold. Uf course anybody who
ventured there would be killed instantly ; but we had tlie consolation of
knowing that tliey could not get water any more than we conld, as the
place where it -was stowed was fastened too securely for the coolies to
open it with any tools they had on hand. We had a small condenser in
the cook's galley, and with this we procured enough water to save us from
death by thirst ; but we refused to give a drop to the mutineers.
" They held out for two days, and during all that time hardly a man
of us slept more than a few minutes at a stretch. Many of the coolies
were suffering terribly with thirst and hunger, and they asked to have
their wants supplied while they were making negotiations for peace. The
captain refused anything but the most unconditional surrender, and the
only concession he would grant was to have the dead bodies passed up to
be thrown overboard. Of course the coolies were very glad of this, as
they were suffering fi-om the fearful condition of the narrow space where
they were confined. When this work ^^-as completed, they asked for half