"Sir," said I, "there are two frigates within a cable's length of us; and would it not be better to send for assistance, without shedding blood? Besides, sir, you have not yet tried the effect of calling up the carpenter's and boatswain's mates by name. Will you allow me to go down first, and bring them to a sense of their duty?" "Yes, sir, I presume you know your power, but of this hereafter." I went down below and called the men by name. "Sir," said one of the boatswain's mates, "the ship's company say that they will not submit to be flogged." "I do not speak to the ship's company generally, Collins," replied I, "but you are now ordered to rig the gratings, and come on deck. It is an order that you cannot refuse. Go up directly, and obey it. Quartermasters, go on deck with your seizings. When all is ready, you can then expostulate." The men obeyed my orders: they crawled on deck, rigged the gratings, and stood by. "All is ready, sir," said I, touching my hat to the captain. "Send the ship's company aft, Mr Paul." "Aft, then, all of you, for punishment," cried the boatswain. "Yes, it is _all of us for punishment_," cried one voice. "We've all to flog one another, and then pay off the _jollies_." [Note: Jollies is a slang word for Marines.] This time the men obeyed the order; they all appeared on the quarterdeck. "The men are all aft, sir," reported the boatswain. "And now, my lads," said the captain, "I'll teach you what mutiny is. You see these two frigates alongside of us. You had forgotten them, I suppose, but I hadn't. Here, you scoundrel, Mr Jones"--(this was the Joe Miller)--"strip, sir. If ever there were mischief in a ship, you are at the head." "Head, sir," said the man, assuming a vacant look; "what head, sir. Do you mean the snake's head? I don't know anything about it, sir." "Strip, sir!" cried the captain, in a rage; "I'll soon bring you to your senses." "If you please, your honour, what have I done to be tied up?" said the man. "Strip, you scoundrel!" "Well, sir, if you please, it's hard to be flogged for nothing." The man pulled off his clothes, and walked up to the grating. The quarter-masters seized him up. "Seized up, sir," reported the scoundrel of a sergeant of marines, who acted as the captain's spy. The captain looked for the articles of war to read, as is necessary previous to punishing a man, and was a little puzzled to find one, where no positive offence had been committed. At last he pitched upon the one which refers to combination and conspiracy, and creating discontent. We all took off our hats as he read it, and he then called Mr Paul, the boatswain, and ordered him to give the man a dozen. "Please, sir," said the boatswain, pointing to his arm in a sling, "I can't flog--I can't lift up my arm." "Your arm was well enough when I came on board, sir," cried the captain. "Yes, sir; but in hurrying the men up, I slipped down the ladder, and I'm afraid I've put my shoulder out."