about six to one
`` This is n't a dream , '' cried Fitz sharply . `` And this is n't a dream , '' cried Poole , flushing up . `` I have been thinking about it , and I ca n't help seeing that as sure as we two are sitting here , those mongrel brutes that swarm in the gunboat will sooner or later get the better of us . Our lads are plucky enough , but the enemy is about six to one , and they 'll hang about there till they surprise us or starve us out ; and how will it be then ? '' `` Why , you will all be prisoners of war , of course . '' `` Prisoners of war ! '' cried Poole contemptuously .