The Book of the Bush | Page 8

then the infuriated captain.
There was but one way out of the trouble, and they all knew it. They
looked at one another; nothing was wanting but the word, and it soon
came. Secker had sailed from the Cove of Cork, and being an Irishman,
he was by nature eloquent, first in speech, and first in action. He
reflected afterwards, when he had leisure to do so.
"Short work is the best," he said, "over he goes; lift the devil." Each
man seized an arm or leg, and Blogg was carried round the mast to the
lee side. The men worked together from training and habit. They swung
the body athwart the deck like a pendulum, and with a "one! two!

three!" it cleared the bulwark, and the devil went head foremost into the
deep sea. The cook, looking on from behind the mast, gave a deep sigh
of relief.
Thus it was that a great breach of the peace was committed on the
Pacific Ocean; and it was done, too, on a beautiful summer's evening,
when the sun was low, a gentle breeze barely filled the sails, and
everybody should have been happy and comfortable.
Captain Blogg rose to the surface directly and swam after his schooner.
The fury of his soul did not abate all at once. He roared to the mate to
bring the schooner to, but there was no responsive "Aye, aye, sir." He
was now outside of his jurisdiction, and his power was gone. He swam
with all his strength, and his bloated face still looked red as the foam
passed by it. The helmsman had resumed his place, and steadied the
tiller, keeping her full, while the other men looked over the stern.
Secker said: "The old man will have a long swim."
But the "old man" swam a losing race. His vessel was gliding away
from him: his face grew pale, and in an agony of fear and despair, he
called to the men for God's sake to take him on board and he would
forgive everything.
But his call came too late; he could find no sureties for his good
behaviour in the future; he had never in his life shown any love for God
or pity for man, and he found in his utmost need neither mercy nor pity
now. He strained his eyes in vain over the crests of the restless billows,
calling for the help that did not come. The receding sails never shivered;
no land was near, no vessel in sight. The sun went down, and the
hopeless sinner was left struggling alone on the black waste of waters.
The men released the cook and held a consultation about a troublesome
point of law. Had they committed mutiny and murder, or only
justifiable homicide? They felt that the point was a very important one
to them--a matter of life and death--and they stood in a group near the
tiller to discuss the difficulty, speaking low, while the cook was
shivering in the forecastle, trying to ease the pain.

The conclusion of the seamen was, that they had done what was right,
both in law and conscience. They had thrown Blogg overboard to
prevent him from murdering the cook, and also for their own safety.
After they had done their duty by seizing him, he would have killed
them if he could. He was a drunken sweep. He was an outlaw, and the
law would not protect him. Anybody could kill an outlaw without fear
of consequences, so they had heard. But still there was some doubt
about it, and there was nobody there to put the case for the captain. The
law was, at that time, a terrible thing, especially in Van Diemen's Land,
under Colonel Arthur. He governed by the gallows, to make everything
orderly and peaceable, and men were peaceable enough after they were
hanged.
So Secker and his mates decided that, although they had done nothing
but what was right in throwing Blogg over the side, it would be
extremely imprudent to trust their innocence to the uncertainty of the
law and to the impartiality of Colonel Arthur.
Their first idea was to take the vessel to South America, but after some
further discussion, they decided to continue the voyage to Hokianga,
and to settle among the Maoris. Nobody had actually seen them throw
Blogg overboard except the cook, and him they looked upon as a friend,
because they had saved him from being flogged to death. They had
some doubts about the best course to take with the mate, but as he was
the only man on board who was able to take the schooner to port, they
were obliged to make use of his services for the present, and at the end
of the voyage