"Handy they shall be!" said Murad, still smiling. "It would be too bad to start ill-feeling between you and me by your disobeying this, my first request. It would bode ill for our voyage. I was once an admiral in the Sultan's navy. I know how to make men obey orders. I should hate to have to ask the captain of yonder frigate to send a crew aboard to help me make my crew obey. Throw down your knives. You have them sharpened to a point that makes an honest man shiver. My good fellows, show me what a good crew I have by obeying me--at once!" His voice rang on the last two words. The men dropped their dirks on the deck. There was a motion of Steve's hand towards the inside of his shirt as the skipper stooped to pick up one of the knives, but Murad seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. "Look, Mr. Bludsoe," he said, straightening himself swiftly, "Steve Dunn has a second knife that he wants to give up!" He pulled a pistol from his pocket. "Give us the hidden knives too, men! This pistol might go off if I am kept waiting too long!" Mr. Bludsoe had returned with an armful of weapons. He deposited them at the skipper's back and went down the line, feeling for dirks. He found two. Ending his search, he ordered the men to go forward. In spite of these precautions, the men continued to grow rebellious. The man who relieved Samuel Childs at the wheel disobeyed orders. When Mr. Bludsoe scolded him he gave impudence. After a scuffle, in which several of the loyal members of the crew, including Samuel Childs and myself, went to Mr. Bludsoe's assistance, this man, Bryan by name, was put in irons. "Holystone the decks!" the next order given after this episode, brought no response from seven members of the crew. They outnumbered the officers and the loyal sailors. If we had not taken possession of their arms, we should have been in a bad way. The men came forward towards the Egyptian. "Release Bryan if you want us to work!" Steve called. "I am the master of this ship!" said Murad calmly, "Bryan is in irons for disobedience. Others of the crew who refuse to obey orders will be treated as mutineers. You know the punishment for that! Holystone the decks!" They folded their arms and stood glowering at the skipper. "I shall starve them into submission!" Murad said to the mate. Two days passed. The men stayed forward. The officers made no attempt to give them orders. Fortunately, the weather remained calm, and the few of us who were loyal were sufficient to handle the sails. If a tempest came, we would be in a serious situation. "They will attack like starved wolves tonight!" said Mr. Bludsoe to Burke, Ross and myself, "I shall give each of you a pistol. Your own lives are at stake. Shoot any man of them who comes aft." The first man who came aft, however, we did not shoot. I was the first to catch sight of his figure stealing away from the forecastle. I fear that my voice trembled when I cried: "Halt! Throw up your hands!"