The two seamen on that side of the steamer dropped upon them, gagged them, and secured them so quickly that they could hardly have known what had happened to them.

The enterprise had been inaugurated without much noise; but the captain had heard it, and called one of the men at the fore-hatch to take the wheel, from which it appeared that he had been steering the steamer himself.
The naval officer saw this man enter the pilot-house, from which Captain Stopfoot had come out.

He moved aft quite briskly with a revolver in his hand; but as soon as he had reached the point where the mate had dropped upon him, Christy leaped upon his head and shoulders, and he sank to the deck, borne down by the weight of his assailant.

He was surprised, as the first victim of the movement had been, and a handkerchief was stuffed into his mouth.

He had dropped his weapon, which Christy picked up and discharged while his knees were placed on the chest of the prostrate commander, and his left hand grappled his throat.