He swam the dug-out through the last drench and backtow of the surf, rocked her clear from part of her watery load, and then, with a feeling of relief, clambered gingerly on board and baled the rest over the gunwale with his hands.  It is not good to stay over-long in these seas which fringe the West African beaches, by reason of the ground shark which makes them his hunting-ground.  And then he manned the paddle, knelt in the stern, and went the shortest way to the steamer which perched on the rock.

The moon was still riding in the sky, but burnt with a pale light now, as dawn had jumped up from behind the shore forests.  All things were shown clearly.  Among other matters, Kettle noted from trifles in her garnishing, which read clear as print to a seaman’s eye, that the steamer was not French or German as he had guessed before, but hailed from his own native islands.  Moreover, her funnel told him that she was not one of the two regular lines from Liverpool, which do all the commerce of the coast.  But he had no time for fresh speculations just then as to her business.  The scuffling on board had been growing more and more serious, and it was clear that the blacks of her complement were giving the whites more than they cared about.

Kettle knew enough of the custom of the Coast to be able to sum the situation.  “Her Krooboys have broken out of hand,” he commented.  “That’s what’s the trouble.  You come down here from England with just enough white men to handle your vessel to Sierra Leone, and then you ship Krooboys to work cargo and surf-boats, and do everything except steer, and as long as nothing happens, your Krooboy is a first-class hand.  Two cupfuls of rice and a bit offish is all the grub he wants; he’ll work sixteen hours a day without a grunt; and he’ll handle a winch or a steam crane with any Geordie donkey-man that has been grounded in the shops.  But just put your steamboat on the ground where he thinks she can’t get off, and there’s a different tune to play.  He’s got a notion that the ship’s his, and the cargo’s his, to loot as he likes, and if he doesn’t get ’em both, he’s equal to making trouble.  Seems to me he’s making bad trouble now.”

By this time it was plain that the black men had got entire possession of the lower parts of the ship.  The small handful of whites were on the top of the fiddley, and while most were fighting to keep the Africans back, a couple were frenziedly working to get a pair of davits swung outboard, and a lifeboat which hung from them lowered into the water.  It was clear they had given up all hope of standing by the ship; and presently they got the boat afloat, and slid down to her in hurried clusters by the davit falls, and then unhooked and rowed away from the steamer’s side in a skelter of haste.  Coals and any other missile that came handy were showered upon them by the Krooboys who manned the rail, to which they replied with a few vicious revolver shots; and then the boat drew out of range.