Then I shall land with all the men except two, who shall
take care of the schooner and be ready with the boat to take us off.
We can creep through the woods to the head of the village, where
these cannibals are always dancing round their suppers of human flesh,
and if the carbines of the men are loaded with a heavy charge of
buck-shot we can drop forty or fifty at the first volley. After that
the thing will be easy enough. The savages will take to the mountains
in a body, and we shall take what we require, up anchor, and away."
To this plan the mate at length agreed. As he left the cabin I heard
the captain say--
"Give the men an extra glass of grog, and don't forget the buck-shot."
The reader may conceive the horror with which I heard this murderous
conversation. I immediately repeated it to Bill, who seemed much
perplexed about it. At length he said--
"I'll tell you what I'll do, Ralph. I'll swim ashore after dark and fix
a musket to a tree not far from the place where we'll have to land, and
I'll tie a long string to the trigger, so that when our fellows cross
it they'll let it off, and so alarm the village in time to prevent an
attack, but not in time to prevent us gettin' back to the boat. So,
Master Captain," added Bill, with a smile that for the first time
seemed to me to be mingled with good-natured cheerfulness, "you'll be
balked at least for once in your life by Bloody Bill.
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