I got past him in the dark, but two of us loaded down like this can never go unseen down that ladder.

We've got to get rid of him." And he pulled out the knife which he had kept with him ever since the outbreak of the mutiny.

They waited without daring to draw breath until the sailor came padding by with his naked feet.

Harrigan crept out behind him, and when the sailor turned at the rail, the Irishman leaped in and struck, not with the blade, but with the haft of the knife; he could not kill from behind.
If it had been a solid blow, the sailor would have crumpled silently as the fireman had done a few moments before, but the impact glanced and merely cut his scalp as it knocked him down.

He fell with a shout which was instantly answered from the front of the ship.
"Down the ladder! Run for it!" cried Harrigan to Campbell, and as the engineer clambered down, he stood guard above.
The sailor leaped up from the deck and lunged with a knife gleaming in his hand, but Harrigan slashed him across the arm, and he fled howling into the dark.