Do you, sir," he said to the second officer, "go to the magazine with four of the midshipmen, open it and bring up charges of grape for the guns on the quarterdeck.

Be as quick as you can.

Now, gentlemen, the rest of us will make our way up quietly, one by one, to the quarterdeck.

Go well aft, so that the men in the waist will not notice you.

Directly the cartridges come up we will load the guns, and be in readiness to slew them across the deck; and in the mean time, if they should attack before we are ready, we must hold the ladders to the last." One by one the officers stole out from the cabin with bare feet, and made their way up to the quarterdeck, until some thirty of them were gathered there, being all the officers of the regiment, the naval officers, and midshipmen.