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1"All night a wide-awake watch was kept by all the officers, forward and aft, especially about the forecastle scuttle and
2fore hatchway; at which last place it was feared the insurgents might emerge, after breaking through the bulkhead below.
3But the hours of darkness passed in peace; the men who still remained at their duty toiling hard at the pumps, whose
4clinking and clanking at intervals through the dreary night dismally resounded through the ship. "At sunrise the Captain
5went forward, and knocking on the deck, summoned the prisoners to work; but with a yell they refused. Water was then
6lowered down to them, and a couple of handfuls of biscuit were tossed after it; when again turning the key upon them and
7pocketing it, the Captain returned to the quarter-deck. Twice every day for three days this was repeated; but on the
8fourth morning a confused wrangling, and then a scuffling was heard, as the customary summons was delivered; and
9suddenly four men burst up from the forecastle, saying they were ready to turn to. The fetid closeness of the air, and a
10famishing diet, united perhaps to some fears of ultimate retribution, had constrained them to surrender at discretion.
11Emboldened by this, the Captain reiterated his demand to the rest, but Steelkilt shouted up to him a terrific hint to
12stop his babbling and betake himself where he belonged. On the fifth morning three others of the mutineers bolted up
13into the air from the desperate arms below that sought to restrain them. Only three were left. "'Better turn to, now?'
14said the Captain with a heartless jeer. "'Shut us up again, will ye!' cried Steelkilt. "'Oh certainly,' said the
15Captain, and the key clicked. "It was at this point, gentlemen, that enraged by the defection of seven of his former
16associates, and stung by the mocking voice that had last hailed him, and maddened by his long entombment in a place as
17black as the bowels of despair; it was then that Steelkilt proposed to the two Canallers, thus far apparently of one
18mind with him, to burst out of their hole at the next summoning of the garrison; and armed with their keen mincing
19knives (long, crescentic, heavy implements with a handle at each end) run amuck from the bowsprit to the taffrail; and
20if by any devilishness of desperation possible, seize the ship. For himself, he would do this, he said, whether they
21joined him or not. That was the last night he should spend in that den. But the scheme met with no opposition on the
22part of the other two; they swore they were ready for that, or for any other mad thing, for anything in short but a
23surrender. And what was more, they each insisted upon being the first man on deck, when the time to make the rush should
24come. But to this their leader as fiercely objected, reserving that priority for himself; particularly as his two
25comrades would not yield, the one to the other, in the matter; and both of them could not be first, for the ladder would
26but admit one man at a time. And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these miscreants must come out. "Upon hearing the
27frantic project of their leader, each in his own separate soul had suddenly lighted, it would seem, upon the same piece
28of treachery, namely: to be foremost in breaking out, in order to be the first of the three, though the last of the ten,
29to surrender; and thereby secure whatever small chance of pardon such conduct might merit. But when Steelkilt made known
30his determination still to lead them to the last, they in some way, by some subtle chemistry of villany, mixed their
31before secret treacheries together; and when their leader fell into a doze, verbally opened their souls to each other in
32three sentences; and bound the sleeper with cords, and gagged him with cords; and shrieked out for the Captain at
33midnight. "Thinking murder at hand, and smelling in the dark for the blood, he and all his armed mates and harpooneers
34rushed for the forecastle. In a few minutes the scuttle was opened, and, bound hand and foot, the still struggling
35ringleader was shoved up into the air by his perfidious allies, who at once claimed the honor of securing a man who had
36been fully ripe for murder. But all these were collared, and dragged along the deck like dead cattle; and, side by side,
37were seized up into the mizzen rigging, like three quarters of meat, and there they hung till morning. 'Damn ye,' cried
38the Captain, pacing to and fro before them, 'the vultures would not touch ye, ye villains!' "At sunrise he summoned all
39hands; and separating those who had rebelled from those who had taken no part in the mutiny, he told the former that he
40had a good mind to flog them all round--thought, upon the whole, he would do so--he ought to--justice demanded it; but
41for the present, considering their timely surrender, he would let them go with a reprimand, which he accordingly
42administered in the vernacular. "'But as for you, ye carrion rogues,' turning to the three men in the rigging--'for you,
43I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;' and, seizing a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs of the two
44traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung their heads sideways, as the two crucified thieves are drawn.
45"'My wrist is sprained with ye!' he cried, at last; 'but there is still rope enough left for you, my fine bantam, that
46wouldn't give up. Take that gag from his mouth, and let us hear what he can say for himself.' "For a moment the
47exhausted mutineer made a tremulous motion of his cramped jaws, and then painfully twisting round his head, said in a
48sort of hiss, 'What I say is this--and mind it well--if you flog me, I murder you!' "'Say ye so? then see how ye
49frighten me'--and the Captain drew off with the rope to strike. "'Best not,' hissed the Lakeman. "'But I must,'--and the
50rope was once more drawn back for the stroke. "Steelkilt here hissed out something, inaudible to all but the Captain;
51who, to the amazement of all hands, started back, paced the deck rapidly two or three times, and then suddenly throwing
52down his rope, said, 'I won't do it--let him go--cut him down: d'ye hear?' "But as the junior mates were hurrying to
53execute the order, a pale man, with a bandaged head, arrested them--Radney the chief mate. Ever since the blow, he had
54lain in his berth; but that morning, hearing the tumult on the deck, he had crept out, and thus far had watched the
55whole scene. Such was the state of his mouth, that he could hardly speak; but mumbling something about his being willing
56and able to do what the captain dared not attempt, he snatched the rope and advanced to his pinioned foe. "'You are a
57coward!' hissed the Lakeman. "'So I am, but take that.' The mate was in the very act of striking, when another hiss
58stayed his uplifted arm. He paused: and then pausing no more, made good his word, spite of Steelkilt's threat, whatever
59that might have been. The three men were then cut down, all hands were turned to, and, sullenly worked by the moody
60seamen, the iron pumps clanged as before. "Just after dark that day, when one watch had retired below, a clamor was
61heard in the forecastle; and the two trembling traitors running up, besieged the cabin door, saying they durst not
62consort with the crew. Entreaties, cuffs, and kicks could not drive them back, so at their own instance they were put
63down in the ship's run for salvation. Still, no sign of mutiny reappeared among the rest. On the contrary, it seemed,
64that mainly at Steelkilt's instigation, they had resolved to maintain the strictest peacefulness, obey all orders to the
65last, and, when the ship reached port, desert her in a body. But in order to insure the speediest end to the voyage,
66they all agreed to another thing--namely, not to sing out for whales, in case any should be discovered. For, spite of
67her leak, and spite of all her other perils, the Town-Ho still maintained her mast-heads, and her captain was just as
68willing to lower for a fish that moment, as on the day his craft first struck the cruising ground; and Radney the mate
69was quite as ready to change his berth for a boat, and with his bandaged mouth seek to gag in death the vital jaw of the
70whale.
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