Produced by Paul Hollander, Lazar Liveanu and the PG Distributed Proofreaders THE MUTINEERS _A tale of old days at sea and of adventures in the Far East as Benjamin Lathrop set it down some sixty years ago_ by Charles Boardman Hawes _Illustrated_ _To_ D.C.H. _TO PAY MY SHOT_ _To master, mate, and men of the ship Hunter, whose voyage is the backbone of my story; to Captain David Woodard, English mariner, who more than a hundred and twenty years ago was wrecked on the island of Celebes; to Captain R.G.F. Candage of Brookline, Massachusetts, who was party to the original contract in melon seeds; and to certain blue-water skippers who have left sailing directions for eastern ports and seas, I am grateful for fascinating narratives and journals, and indebted for incidents in this tale of an earlier generation._ _C.B.H._ CONTENTS I IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR CANTON, CHINA I My Father and I Call on Captain Whidden II Bill Hayden III The Man Outside the Galley IV A Piece of Pie V Kipping II IN WHICH WE ENCOUNTER AN ARAB SHIP VI The Council in the Cabin VII The Sail with a Lozenge-Shaped Patch VIII Attacked IX Bad Signs X The Treasure-Seeker III WHICH APPROACHES A CRISIS XI A Hundred Thousand Dollars in Gold XII A Strange Tale XIII Trouble Forward XIV Bill Hayden Comes to the End of His Voyage IV IN WHICH THE TIDE OF OUR FORTUNES EBBS XV Mr. Falk Tries to Cover His Tracks XVI A Prayer for the Dead XVII Marooned XVIII Adventures Ashore V IN WHICH THE TIDE TURNS XIX In Last Resort XX A Story in Melon Seeds XXI New Allies XXII We Attack XXIII What We Found in the Cabin VI IN WHICH WE REACH THE PORT OF OUR DESTINATION XXIV Falk Proposes a Truce XXV Including a Cross-Examination XXVI An Attempt to Play on Our Sympathy XXVII We Reach Whampoa, but Not the End of Our Troubles VII OLD SCORES AND NEW AND A DOUBTFUL WELCOME XXVIII A Mystery Is Solved and a Thief Gets Away XXIX Homeward Bound XXX Through Sunda Strait XXXI Pikes, Cutlasses, and Guns XXXII "So Ends" ILLUSTRATIONS "_At 'em, men! At 'em! Pull, you sons of the devil, pull_!" _Suddenly, in the brief silence that followed the two thunderous reports, a pistol shot rang out sharply, and I saw Captain Whidden spin round and fall_. _We helped him pile his belongings into his chest ... and gave him a hand on deck_. "_Sign that statement, Lathrop," said Captain Falk_. _He cut from the melon-rind a roughly shaped model of a ship and stuck in it, to represent masts, three slivers of bamboo_. [Illustration: "_At 'em, men! At 'em! Pull, you sons of the devil, pull_!"] I IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR CANTON, CHINA CHAPTER I MY FATHER AND I CALL ON CAPTAIN WHIDDEN