While he was so engaged he heard some sort of a disturbance in the after part of the steamer.
"On deck there!" he called sharply; and the five men who had been stationed in this part of the steamer stood up before him, jumping up from the beds they had made for themselves on the cotton bales, or rushing out from behind them.

"Hopkins and White, go aft and ascertain the cause of that disturbance," he added.
The two men promptly obeyed the order, and the naval officer directed the other three to stand by to anchor the steamer.

In a few minutes the anchor was ready to let go.

Perhaps a quarter of an hour had elapsed, when Christy began to wonder what had become of the two men he had sent aft to report on the disturbance.
"Linman," he called to one of the three men on the forecastle, "go aft and see what has become of Hopkins and White." Linman proceeded to obey the order, but had not been gone twenty seconds, before the noise of another disturbance came to Christy's ears, and this time it sounded very much like a scuffle.

Up to this moment, and even since Captain Stopfoot had left the pilot-house, Christy had not suspected that anything on board was wrong.