schooner _Hornet_, and, if possible, get the schooner herself into
their possession preparatory to some attempt on a large scale, the
particulars of which could not be made out by either of us.

One of the men spoke of Peters, when the mate replied to him in a
low voice which could not be distinguished, and afterward added more
loudly, that "he could not understand his being so much forward with
the captain's brat in the forecastle, and he thought the sooner both
of them were overboard the better." To this no answer was made, but
we could easily perceive that the hint was well received by the whole
party, and more particularly by Jones. At this period I was
excessively agitated, the more so as I could see that neither
Augustus nor Peters could determine how to act. I made up my mind,
however, to sell my life as dearly as possible, and not to suffer
myself to be overcome by any feelings of trepidation.

The tremendous noise made by the roaring of the wind in the
rigging, and the washing of the sea over the deck, prevented us from
hearing what was said, except during momentary lulls. In one of
these, we all distinctly heard the mate tell one of the men to "go
forward, have an eye upon them, for he wanted no such secret doings
on board the brig." It was well for us that the pitching of the
vessel at this moment was so violent as to prevent this order from
being carried into instant execution. The cook got up from his
mattress to go for us, when a tremendous lurch, which I thought would
carry away the masts, threw him headlong against one of the larboard
stateroom doors, bursting it open, and creating a good deal of other
confusion. Luckily, neither of our party was thrown from his
position, and we had time to make a precipitate retreat to the
forecastle, and arrange a hurried plan of action before the messenger