It took fully five minutes for that blessed fuse to burn its slow
length, and when the bomb did go off it was a sad disappointment. I
swear it could have been sat upon with nothing more than a jar to
one's nerves. And yet, in so far as the intimidation goes, it did
its work. The men have not since ventured under the overhang of the
poop.
That the mutineers were getting short of food was patent. The
Elsinore, sailless, drifted about that morning, the sport of wind and
wave; and the gang put many lines overboard for the catching of
molly-hawks and albatrosses. Oh, I worried the hungry fishers with
my rifle. No man could show himself for'ard without having a bullet
whop against the iron-work perilously near him. And still they
caught birds--not, however, without danger to themselves, and not
without numerous losses of birds due to my rifle.
Their procedure was to toss their hooks and bait over the rail from
shelter and slowly to pay the lines out as the slight windage of the
Elsinore's hull, spars, and rigging drifted her through the water.
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