"A fine night, Mr Barwell," said I, as he stepped up on the topgallant forecastle. "It's a sort of night you landsmen don't often meet with, I suspect." "Not often, youngster," he answered. "But one might suppose, from the way you talk, that you had been all your life afloat." "No, it's my first voyage, like yours, Mr Barwell; only, as you see, I have taken kindly to the life; now, you probably would never become a better seaman than you are now," I could not help replying. "However, if you have a fancy to learn, I will teach you to knot and splice, and show you all I know myself." "Thank you, but I am contented to know how to make shoes," he drawled out, in quite a different tone to that in which he had before spoken. I was convinced that Mr Henley was right. "Mend shoes! I wouldn't wish for a better man at the weather earing when reefing topsails in a gale of wind--that is to say, if you were but a seaman," I observed, laughing, as I turned to go aft. He started, and my remarks evidently puzzled him not a little, as I intended they should. As I was just abaft the main-mast, I heard my name called, and looking under the booms, I discovered Tommy Bigg. "Just step this way, sir, in case I should be seen," he whispered. "I have heard more of their plans. They are going to shut up Spratt and the rest who won't side with them in the fore-peak, and then hurry aft and seize the arms, lock the cabin-doors, and lash the officers down in their berths. They have divided themselves into three parties, and they think that the whole work can be done in a couple of minutes or so. If any resist on deck, they vow that they'll knock them overboard. They'll not commit murder if they can help it, they say, but they'll not stand on ceremony about the matter." "Very well done, Tommy," I replied. "Get forward as quietly as you can, and tell Spratt I want him and any true men he can bring; and, if possible, not to let Cobb and the rest know that they have come aft. If they slip out one by one, they can manage it. Do you then, Tommy, join us, unless you find that you can stow yourself away safely forward." "If you'll let me, sir, I'll do what seems best," answered Tommy. "Maybe by stopping I may help you more than by being with you." I told Tommy to do as he judged best, and returning to the poop, resumed my usual walk. The night was very dark. The conspirators reckoned on this to assist them, but it was of more use to us, as it enabled us to move about and arrange our counter-plot without their discovering us.