Frank Nelson in the Forecastle

a race that promised to be as exciting as even Eugene could have wished it. The boys once more ran up the rigging, so that they could watch both contestants. The wh

ranger he comprehended the situation, and giving[42] utterance to some heavy adjectives, which by the time they came to the boys' ears sounded a good deal like oaths, ordered his crew to "Pick her up a

said Frank. "There are eleven men in our boat

and this man being a captain, will expect our crew to obe

pression he had seen on the face of every one o

captain was furious, his face showed that. He ran his eye over the men on the[43] Stranger's deck,

men to desert. If there is a law on sho

none of their officers were observing them, and then leaned over and shook their fists at the angry man. One of them hugged his cap under his arm and beat it furiously with his clenched hand, nodding pleasantly to the captain the while, as if to indicate that it would have afforded him infinite satisfaction if the captain's head ha

y on shore. It is there that culprits are sent to be reprimanded, if their offence

n, he was not the one to pass lightly over an insult to a shipmaster

r field-glasses. They did not want to miss a single incident of the race. Frank, who up to this time had remained below with Uncle

4

"There is more in that crew than I thou

d boatswain's mate and fairly thrown ashore. He jumped to his feet and disappeared in less time than it takes to tell it. A few seconds later the whale-boat landed and the captain sprang out and started in pur

The boatswain's mate[46] went aft demurely enough to report the safe return of the boat, but when he made his way forward again, and glanced up at the boys, with whom he was an especial favorite, they saw that his jolly countenance was wreathed with smiles, and that his b

ou a question," said Perk. "Can that brutal fellow do

the better of me, and should rescue me from their clutches,

ainly

landsman's right of self-defence, but deny the same to a sailor. Even sailors themselves think that because

ar!" crie

ce frown. "Hurrah for free trade and sailors' rights, the motto on-on

ly as the rest for a fe

issatisfaction among the crew of a vessel, is called mutiny; and they know,

t of the mutiny on board the United State

of law, but they soon give it up, for at the very outset they find an insurmountable obstacle in their way. Before they can convict they must prove three things-that the punishment they received was cruel and unusual; that it was inflicted without any just cause; and that the occasion of it was malice, hatred, or a desire for revenge on the part of the off

laints[49] against the master of that whale

fine and five years

will get it all

what ought he to do when he is abused at sea?" asked Bab. "I under

r, take the ship out of the hands of her officers, confine them in the cabin, and

"and swing for it the mom

ener if sailors only knew their rights. As far as any risk I might run is concerned, I

5

any such scrape," said Archie; "I sh

ank, with a laugh. "As his Honor remarked"-here he waved his hand towards F

order, given in a very hoarse voice, "Away, you gigs, away!"-"the captain is going ashore. H

is going ashore to see about the stores. It will

be our next por

he wild life in which he had been so much interested. Perk would agree to all that, in case they could stop on the way and give him a chance to try his hand at salmon-fishing in the tributaries of the Columbia river. Fred had seen quite enough of snow and ice, and thought he could have more sport in a warm country. He wanted to go to Japan. Walter said he was strongly in favor of that, for after they had seen all the sights in that country they wo

two good-natured, ignorant fellows. They had been of great service to them-beyond a doubt they had saved Walter's life-and they could not but miss them when they were gone. The cousins especially would have been glad to postpone the parting moment had they possessed the power. It was not at all likely that they wo

5

ey going? He didn't care. The world was before them, and when the boys had made up their minds what portion of it they wanted to see first, they could come to him with their decision. He wasn't going to bother his h

ch. A few "primary meetings" had been held immediately after supper, but they amounted to nothing. Each boy knew upon whom he could rely to second any motion he might[54] make, but he was not so certain of the

ptain of this schooner be requested to

" said Frank, who was

he motion," said Walter. "Ar

I move to amend by striking out

e motion,"

ndment. Are you ready t

tell you what's a fact," said Perk. "I[55] move to amend

ing a devoted disciple of old Izaac Walton,

said Archie, "I

nt to an amendment is proper, but not an a

ed all manner of what," and spouted away on subjects that had not the slightest connection with the question under[56] discussion. He talked eloquently about the American eagle, the war of 1812, and the stars and stripes, and dwelt long on the rights of sailors and other free-born citizens. He said afterward that if he couldn't gain his point any other way, he would tire his audience out, and compel them to vote for his amendment just to get rid of him. But the boys listened pa

m-not a man had yet turned in. The best bunks in the forecastle had been given up for their use, and the beds that were made up in them would have looked very inviting to almost anybody except our two backwoodsmen. Having been all their lives accustomed to sleeping on the hard ground, with nothing but a blanket or the spreading branches of some friendly tree for protection, they wanted plenty of a

nderdecker's ghostly ship, the Flying Dutchman, which was rushing about the ocean with the speed of a railroad train, running down and sinking every craft that came in her way; of monstrous cuttle-fish which would sometimes arise suddenly out of the depths, and twining their long arms about a ship, sink with it and all the crew to the bottom; and one of the men declared that he had actually met and been swallowed by the same whale that took Jonah in out of the wet, hundreds and thousands of years before, and to prove it, exh

t a sailor on board the Stranger who had not seen some unlucky vessel tumble off the under side of the earth, her magnet proving too weak t

not sleep after hearing of such wonderful adventures and[60] talking face to face with the men who had taken part in them. If they had no