The first part was easy because the
seamen were not ready for a fight. We shot the two men on the boat and the
captain shot another man. This man, Tom Smith, was the worst of them and he
began the mutiny on the ship.
Then the captain talked to the other five men and they agreed to help him.
They did not really want to be mutineers, but they were afraid of Tom Smith.
‘Now,’ I said to the captain, ‘we must get back your ship. How many men are on it?’
Twenty six,’ the captain replied, ‘and they will fight hard because they won’t want
to go home. It is death for all mutinees in England. But not all the men are bad.
I’m sure that some of them will help me.’
Just then we saw another boat which was coming from the ship to the shore.
There were ten men in it and they all had guns. We ran into the trees and waited.
It was a long hard fight, but by now it was dark and this helped us very much.
We ran here and there in the trees, calling and shouting. The seamen could not see
us and did not know how many men they were fighting. In the end the first officer
shouted to them:
‘Put down your guns and stop fighting! The captain has fifty island people to help him.
We can kill you all!’
