The moment I
put my head over the rail to fire at them, I knew they would fire up
at me with all the advantage in their favour. They were hidden. I
had to expose myself.
Two steel doors, tight-fastened and caulked against the Cape Horn
seas, opened under the overhang of the poop from the cabin on to the
main deck. These doors the men proceeded to attack with sledge-
hammers, while the rest of the gang, sheltered by the 'midship-house,
showed that it stood ready for the rush when the doors were battered
down.
Inside, the steward guarded one door with his hacking knife, while
with his spear Wada guarded the other door. Nor, while I had
dispatched them to this duty, was I idle. Behind the jiggermast I
lighted the fuse of one of my extemporized bombs. When it was
sputtering nicely I ran across the poop to the break and dropped the
bomb to the main deck beneath, at the same time making an effort to
toss it in under the overhang where the men battered at the port-
door. But this effort was distracted and made futile by a popping of
several revolver shots from the gangways amidships.
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