“Now this Clough was an awful smart fellow and he said once more that he would swim to the ship, and the first mate told him to go ahead. He took off every rag he had on, then he took a boat knife in his teeth, and he didn’t care if the sea was full of sharks; he swam straight to the stern of the vessel, climbed up the rudder and got into the cabin through a window. He found, in the dark, two cutlasses and two muskets, which he loaded. A native come down the steps and Clough attacked him with a cutlass and cut out one of his eyes, but in the struggle Clough’s right hand was badly cut. The native was as good as killed. “One of the other two savages come to the head of the stairs with a cuttin’ spade in his hand. Clough pointed a musket with his left hand and right forearm and fired it and killed the fellow. As his body come down stairs, bringin’ the spade with him, it struck Clough’s left arm and cut it badly. And now see what a smart fellow the first mate was. Through the cabin window Clough told him what he had done, and how badly he was hurt, and called for help and said that only one savage was alive. But the brave mate replied that, as he had only heard one shot, he believed that only one savage was dead, so he wouldn’t help Clough. The poor fellow stretched out on the cabin floor helpless. In half an hour the boat come under the stern, and the men climbed in through the windows. The native who hadn’t been hurt jumped overboard but come on board again during the night and was put in irons. Clough’s wounds healed and, when he got back, his owners made him captain of the _Sharon_ and then built a new ship for him.” The men were greatly pleased with Kreelman’s story; they were loud in their praises of Clough; and, as foremast hands have generally a pretty low estimate of the upper officers, they expressed their opinion of the first mate in uncomplimentary language. This conference during the dogwatch was the most interesting of any in the whole voyage. Most of my companions had looked forward to this long cruise with some forebodings, and the stories narrated pertained to experiences and incidents which some of them probably felt they might themselves encounter before the season was over. But Kreelman’s tale had thrilled them. What gloom there had been was dissipated, and the men went to the watch below that night all ready for their labors in the months before them. CHAPTER XII THE COAST OF JAPAN AND THE CAROLINES