Even his dull intellect comprehended that the desperate project had failed, and that he had been betrayed.

With the roar of despair which had penetrated into the prison, he turned to fight his way back, just in time to see the crowd in the gangway recoil from the flash of the musket fired by Vickers.

The next instant, Pine and two soldiers, taking advantage of the momentary cessation of the press, shot the bolts, and secured the prison.
The mutineers were caught in a trap.
The narrow space between the barracks and the barricade was choked with struggling figures.

Some twenty convicts, and half as many soldiers, struck and stabbed at each other in the crowd.

There was barely elbow-room, and attacked and attackers fought almost without knowing whom they struck.