196 THE BOY CAPTAIN.

The young girl acted upon this suggestion at once, and
after talking with the two sailors Ben arrived at some-
thing nearly approaching the true state of affairs.

It was positive one of the men, as well as the second
mate, had been killed.

Including the officers, the Progressive Age had left Hong
Kong with twelve men on board, thirteen all told, number-
ing Miss Dunham as one of the ship’s company. Two of
these were now known to be dead, four were in the saloon,
and, in case the steward was in his berth off the pantry,
there would be but five mutineers in charge of the deck.

“There,” Ben said, when he had figured this matter out
in his mind. “You see the odds are not against us, after
all. Allowing the five others to be mutineers, and not
counting Mr. Bean or old Eliphalet, there are three of us,
and we should be able to give the rascals as much of a
dose as they need.”

“Except that they have got the upper hands of us by
being on deck while we are below,’ Bob suggested.

«“ We'll soon be able to turn the tide in our direction,
I hope,” Ben replied. “The greatest danger is that the
villains may, through ignorance, allow the brig to do her-
self some damage. Sam, see if you can find the steward,
while Miss Dunham and I get together all the weapons
and ammunition we can muster.”

Sam had a very good idea of where Eliphalet could be
found, if he was not in the power of. the mutineers, and
went directly to the small storeroom alongside the pantry
where the old darkey slept.