eleven o'clock
This seemed to point to the fact that they intended to undertake their projected excursion in the longboat instead of taking the two gigs -- a much greater piece of luck than I had dared to hope for , -- and also suggested an intention on their part to make a fairly long day of it . I did not hesitate to instruct Briggs to see to it that their supply of grog should on this occasion be a liberal one , for the longer they remained out of the ship , the more time we should have in which to make our preparation . The weather was intensely hot , and the mutineers manifested no inclination to exert themselves unduly . It was consequently almost eleven o'clock in the forenoon ere the longboat was in the water alongside , and another quarter of an hour was spent over the making of the final preparations ; but at length they tumbled down over the side , one after another , with a good deal of rough horseplay , and a considerable amount of wrangling , and pushed off . The general and three or four of the other passengers were on the poop , smoking under the awning -- which they had been obliged to spread for themselves , -- and observing the movements of the men under the cover of a pretence of reading ; and when the longboat had disappeared the general came down to apprise me of that fact , and also of another , namely , that the steerage passengers Hales and Cruickshank , and two seamen , armed to the teeth with pistols and cutlasses -- the latter at least , in all probability , taken from my men -- had been left behind for the obvious purpose of taking care of the ship and keeping us in order during the absence of the others . This was rather serious news , and none the less vexatious because it did not take me altogether by surprise . The general opinion had been that all hands were bent upon going ashore , and that the ship would be left at our mercy ; but this had certainly not been my own view , for I could not believe that a man of Tonkin 's intelligence -- realising , as he must , the enormity of his offence in not only himself breaking into open rebellion against lawful authority but in inciting others to do the same -- would be so rashly imprudent as to leave us free , for a period of several hours , to release my men and to take such other steps as might occur to us for the suppression of the mutiny .