<p><SPAN name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"></SPAN></p>
<h2> CHAPTER 4 </h2>
<p>THE brig put to sea, as I had supposed, in about an hour after he had left
the watch. This was on the twentieth of June. It will be remembered that I
had then been in the hold for three days; and, during this period, there
was so constant a bustle on board, and so much running to and fro,
especially in the cabin and staterooms, that he had had no chance of
visiting me without the risk of having the secret of the trap discovered.
When at length he did come, I had assured him that I was doing as well as
possible; and, therefore, for the two next days he felt but little
uneasiness on my account—still, however, watching an opportunity of
going down. It was not until the fourth day that he found one. Several
times during this interval he had made up his mind to let his father know
of the adventure, and have me come up at once; but we were still within
reaching distance of Nantucket, and it was doubtful, from some expressions
which had escaped Captain Barnard, whether he would not immediately put
back if he discovered me to be on board. Besides, upon thinking the matter
over, Augustus, so he told me, could not imagine that I was in immediate
want, or that I would hesitate, in such case, to make myself heard at the
trap. When, therefore, he considered everything he concluded to let me
stay until he could meet with an opportunity of visiting me unobserved.
This, as I said before, did not occur until the fourth day after his
bringing me the watch, and the seventh since I had first entered the hold.
He then went down without taking with him any water or provisions,
intending in the first place merely to call my attention, and get me to
come from the box to the trap,—when he would go up to the stateroom
and thence hand me down a supply. When he descended for this purpose he
found that I was asleep, for it seems that I was snoring very loudly. From
all the calculations I can make on the subject, this must have been the
slumber into which I fell just after my return from the trap with the
watch, and which, consequently, must have lasted for more than three
entire days and nights at the very least. Latterly, I have had reason both
from my own experience and the assurance of others, to be acquainted with
the strong soporific effects of the stench arising from old fish-oil when
closely confined; and when I think of the condition of the hold in which I
was imprisoned, and the long period during which the brig had been used as
a whaling vessel, I am more inclined to wonder that I awoke at all, after
once falling asleep, than that I should have slept uninterruptedly for the
period specified above.</p>
<p>Augustus called to me at first in a low voice and without closing the trap—but
I made him no reply. He then shut the trap, and spoke to me in a louder,
and finally in a very loud tone—still I continued to snore. He was
now at a loss what to do. It would take him some time to make his way
through the lumber to my box, and in the meanwhile his absence would be
noticed by Captain Barnard, who had occasion for his services every
minute, in arranging and copying papers connected with the business of the
voyage. He determined, therefore, upon reflection, to ascend, and await
another opportunity of visiting me. He was the more easily induced to this
resolve, as my slumber appeared to be of the most tranquil nature, and he
could not suppose that I had undergone any inconvenience from my
incarceration. He had just made up his mind on these points when his
attention was arrested by an unusual bustle, the sound of which proceeded
apparently from the cabin. He sprang through the trap as quickly as
possible, closed it, and threw open the door of his stateroom. No sooner
had he put his foot over the threshold than a pistol flashed in his face,
and he was knocked down, at the same moment, by a blow from a handspike.</p>
<p>A strong hand held him on the cabin floor, with a tight grasp upon his
throat; still he was able to see what was going on around him. His father
was tied hand and foot, and lying along the steps of the companion-way,
with his head down, and a deep wound in the forehead, from which the blood
was flowing in a continued stream. He spoke not a word, and was apparently
dying. Over him stood the first mate, eyeing him with an expression of
fiendish derision, and deliberately searching his pockets, from which he
presently drew forth a large wallet and a chronometer. Seven of the crew
(among whom was the cook, a negro) were rummaging the staterooms on the
larboard for arms, where they soon equipped themselves with muskets and
ammunition. Besides Augustus and Captain Barnard, there were nine men
altogether in the cabin, and these among the most ruffianly of the brig's
company. The villains now went upon deck, taking my friend with them after
having secured his arms behind his back. They proceeded straight to the
forecastle, which was fastened down—two of the mutineers standing by
it with axes—two also at the main hatch. The mate called out in a
loud voice: "Do you hear there below? tumble up with you, one by one—now,
mark that—and no grumbling!" It was some minutes before any one
appeared:—at last an Englishman, who had shipped as a raw hand, came
up, weeping piteously, and entreating the mate, in the most humble manner,
to spare his life. The only reply was a blow on the forehead from an axe.
The poor fellow fell to the deck without a groan, and the black cook
lifted him up in his arms as he would a child, and tossed him deliberately
into the sea. Hearing the blow and the plunge of the body, the men below
could now be induced to venture on deck neither by threats nor promises,
until a proposition was made to smoke them out. A general rush then
ensued, and for a moment it seemed possible that the brig might be
retaken. The mutineers, however, succeeded at last in closing the
forecastle effectually before more than six of their opponents could get
up. These six, finding themselves so greatly outnumbered and without arms,
submitted after a brief struggle. The mate gave them fair words—no
doubt with a view of inducing those below to yield, for they had no
difficulty in hearing all that was said on deck. The result proved his
sagacity, no less than his diabolical villainy. All in the forecastle
presently signified their intention of submitting, and, ascending one by
one, were pinioned and then thrown on their backs, together with the first
six—there being in all, of the crew who were not concerned in the
mutiny, twenty-seven.</p>
<p>A scene of the most horrible butchery ensued. The bound seamen were
dragged to the gangway. Here the cook stood with an axe, striking each
victim on the head as he was forced over the side of the vessel by the
other mutineers. In this manner twenty-two perished, and Augustus had
given himself up for lost, expecting every moment his own turn to come
next. But it seemed that the villains were now either weary, or in some
measure disgusted with their bloody labour; for the four remaining
prisoners, together with my friend, who had been thrown on the deck with
the rest, were respited while the mate sent below for rum, and the whole
murderous party held a drunken carouse, which lasted until sunset. They
now fell to disputing in regard to the fate of the survivors, who lay not
more than four paces off, and could distinguish every word said. Upon some
of the mutineers the liquor appeared to have a softening effect, for
several voices were heard in favor of releasing the captives altogether,
on condition of joining the mutiny and sharing the profits. The black
cook, however (who in all respects was a perfect demon, and who seemed to
exert as much influence, if not more, than the mate himself), would listen
to no proposition of the kind, and rose repeatedly for the purpose of
resuming his work at the gangway. Fortunately he was so far overcome by
intoxication as to be easily restrained by the less bloodthirsty of the
party, among whom was a line-manager, who went by the name of Dirk Peters.
This man was the son of an Indian squaw of the tribe of Upsarokas, who
live among the fastnesses of the Black Hills, near the source of the
Missouri. His father was a fur-trader, I believe, or at least connected in
some manner with the Indian trading-posts on Lewis river. Peter himself
was one of the most ferocious-looking men I ever beheld. He was short in
stature, not more than four feet eight inches high, but his limbs were of
Herculean mould. His hands, especially, were so enormously thick and broad
as hardly to retain a human shape. His arms, as well as legs, were bowed
in the most singular manner, and appeared to possess no flexibility
whatever. His head was equally deformed, being of immense size, with an
indentation on the crown (like that on the head of most negroes), and
entirely bald. To conceal this latter deficiency, which did not proceed
from old age, he usually wore a wig formed of any hair-like material which
presented itself—occasionally the skin of a Spanish dog or American
grizzly bear. At the time spoken of, he had on a portion of one of these
bearskins; and it added no little to the natural ferocity of his
countenance, which betook of the Upsaroka character. The mouth extended
nearly from ear to ear, the lips were thin, and seemed, like some other
portions of his frame, to be devoid of natural pliancy, so that the ruling
expression never varied under the influence of any emotion whatever. This
ruling expression may be conceived when it is considered that the teeth
were exceedingly long and protruding, and never even partially covered, in
any instance, by the lips. To pass this man with a casual glance, one
might imagine him to be convulsed with laughter, but a second look would
induce a shuddering acknowledgment, that if such an expression were
indicative of merriment, the merriment must be that of a demon. Of this
singular being many anecdotes were prevalent among the seafaring men of
Nantucket. These anecdotes went to prove his prodigious strength when
under excitement, and some of them had given rise to a doubt of his
sanity. But on board the Grampus, it seems, he was regarded, at the time
of the mutiny, with feelings more of derision than of anything else. I
have been thus particular in speaking of Dirk Peters, because, ferocious
as he appeared, he proved the main instrument in preserving the life of
Augustus, and because I shall have frequent occasion to mention him
hereafter in the course of my narrative—a narrative, let me here
say, which, in its latter portions, will be found to include incidents of
a nature so entirely out of the range of human experience, and for this
reason so far beyond the limits of human credulity, that I proceed in
utter hopelessness of obtaining credence for all that I shall tell, yet
confidently trusting in time and progressing science to verify some of the
most important and most improbable of my statements.</p>
<p>After much indecision and two or three violent quarrels, it was determined
at last that all the prisoners (with the exception of Augustus, whom
Peters insisted in a jocular manner upon keeping as his clerk) should be
set adrift in one of the smallest whaleboats. The mate went down into the
cabin to see if Captain Barnard was still living—for, it will be
remembered, he was left below when the mutineers came up. Presently the
two made their appearance, the captain pale as death, but somewhat
recovered from the effects of his wound. He spoke to the men in a voice
hardly articulate, entreated them not to set him adrift, but to return to
their duty, and promising to land them wherever they chose, and to take no
steps for bringing them to justice. He might as well have spoken to the
winds. Two of the ruffians seized him by the arms and hurled him over the
brig's side into the boat, which had been lowered while the mate went
below. The four men who were lying on the deck were then untied and
ordered to follow, which they did without attempting any resistance—Augustus
being still left in his painful position, although he struggled and prayed
only for the poor satisfaction of being permitted to bid his father
farewell. A handful of sea-biscuit and a jug of water were now handed
down; but neither mast, sail, oar, nor compass. The boat was towed astern
for a few minutes, during which the mutineers held another consultation—it
was then finally cut adrift. By this time night had come on—there
were neither moon nor stars visible—and a short and ugly sea was
running, although there was no great deal of wind. The boat was instantly
out of sight, and little hope could be entertained for the unfortunate
sufferers who were in it. This event happened, however, in latitude 35
degrees 30' north, longitude 61 degrees 20' west, and consequently at no
very great distance from the Bermuda Islands. Augustus therefore
endeavored to console himself with the idea that the boat might either
succeed in reaching the land, or come sufficiently near to be fallen in
with by vessels off the coast.</p>
<p>All sail was now put upon the brig, and she continued her original course
to the southwest—the mutineers being bent upon some piratical
expedition, in which, from all that could be understood, a ship was to be
intercepted on her way from the Cape Verd Islands to Porto Rico. No
attention was paid to Augustus, who was untied and suffered to go about
anywhere forward of the cabin companion-way. Dirk Peters treated him with
some degree of kindness, and on one occasion saved him from the brutality
of the cook. His situation was still one of the most precarious, as the
men were continually intoxicated, and there was no relying upon their
continued good-humor or carelessness in regard to himself. His anxiety on
my account be represented, however, as the most distressing result of his
condition; and, indeed, I had never reason to doubt the sincerity of his
friendship. More than once he had resolved to acquaint the mutineers with
the secret of my being on board, but was restrained from so doing, partly
through recollection of the atrocities he had already beheld, and partly
through a hope of being able soon to bring me relief. For the latter
purpose he was constantly on the watch; but, in spite of the most constant
vigilance, three days elapsed after the boat was cut adrift before any
chance occurred. At length, on the night of the third day, there came on a
heavy blow from the eastward, and all hands were called up to take in
sail. During the confusion which ensued, he made his way below unobserved,
and into the stateroom. What was his grief and horror in discovering that
the latter had been rendered a place of deposit for a variety of
sea-stores and ship-furniture, and that several fathoms of old
chain-cable, which had been stowed away beneath the companion-ladder, had
been dragged thence to make room for a chest, and were now lying
immediately upon the trap! To remove it without discovery was impossible,
and he returned on deck as quickly as he could. As he came up, the mate
seized him by the throat, and demanding what he had been doing in the
cabin, was about flinging him over the larboard bulwark, when his life was
again preserved through the interference of Dirk Peters. Augustus was now
put in handcuffs (of which there were several pairs on board), and his
feet lashed tightly together. He was then taken into the steerage, and
thrown into a lower berth next to the forecastle bulkheads, with the
assurance that he should never put his foot on deck again "until the brig
was no longer a brig." This was the expression of the cook, who threw him
into the berth—it is hardly possible to say what precise meaning
intended by the phrase. The whole affair, however, proved the ultimate
means of my relief, as will presently appear.</p>
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