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- # CHAPTER XXIV.
OUTBREAK OF THE CREW
## Overview
This is a chapter from the novel [Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas](arke:01KG8AJ7VM7B8YZ2568YF8PQ5J) by Herman Melville. It describes an outbreak of the crew against Bembo, a character referred to as "the Mowree," and the intervention of Jermin, the mate, to save him. The chapter spans lines 3229-3319 of the source file [omoo.txt](arke:01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ).
## Context
The chapter is part of [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows [CHAPTER XXIII. THE SECOND NIGHT OFF PAPEETEE](arke:01KG8AJHQ73FX1CD9D18EPP4J3) and precedes [CHAPTER XXV. JERMIN ENCOUNTERS AN OLD SHIPMATE](arke:01KG8AJHQ7K1CPKY0BSA8EQ3RV) in the novel's narrative.
## Contents
The chapter depicts the crew's attempt to attack Bembo, fueled by his perceived betrayal. The crew, having learned of Bembo's intentions, seeks to harm him, but Jermin intervenes, preventing the crew from throwing Bembo overboard. Jermin confronts the sailors, protecting Bembo and ultimately locking him in the cabin scuttle. The chapter concludes with the narrator's assessment of Bembo's motives and Jermin's role in preventing a murder.
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- CHAPTER XXIV.
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- 3229
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- CHAPTER XXIV.
OUTBREAK OF THE CREW
The purpose of Bembo had been made known to the men generally by the
watch; and now that our salvation was certain, by an instinctive
impulse they raised a cry, and rushed toward him.
Just before liberated by Dunk and the steward, he was standing doggedly
by the mizzen-mast; and, as the infuriated sailors came on, his
bloodshot eye rolled, and his sheath-knife glittered over his head.
“Down with him!” “Strike him down!” “Hang him at the main-yard!” such
were the shouts now raised. But he stood unmoved, and, for a single
instant, they absolutely faltered.
“Cowards!” cried Salem, and he flung himself upon him. The steel
descended like a ray of light; but did no harm; for the sailor’s heart
was beating against the Mowree’s before he was aware.
They both fell to the deck, when the knife was instantly seized, and
Bembo secured.
“For’ard! for’ard with him!” was again the cry; “give him a sea-toss!”
“Overboard with him!” and he was dragged along the deck, struggling and
fighting with tooth and nail.
All this uproar immediately over the mate’s head at last roused him
from his drunken nap, and he came staggering on deck.
“What’s this?” he shouted, running right in among them.
“It’s the Mowree, zur; they are going to murder him, zur,” here sobbed
poor Rope Yarn, crawling close up to him.
“Avast! avast!” roared Jermin, making a spring toward Bembo, and
dashing two or three of the sailors aside. At this moment the wretch
was partly flung over the bulwarks, which shook with his frantic
struggles. In vain the doctor and others tried to save him: the men
listened to nothing.
“Murder and mutiny, by the salt sea!” shouted the mate; and dashing his
arms right and left, he planted his iron hand upon the Mowree’s
shoulder.
“There are two of us now; and as you serve him, you serve me,” he
cried, turning fiercely round.
“Over with them together, then,” exclaimed the carpenter, springing
forward; but the rest fell back before the courageous front of Jermin,
and, with the speed of thought, Bembo, unharmed, stood upon deck.
“Aft with ye!” cried his deliverer; and he pushed him right among the
men, taking care to follow him up close. Giving the sailors no time to
recover, he pushed the Mowree before him, till they came to the cabin
scuttle, when he drew the slide over him, and stood still. Throughout,
Bembo never spoke one word.
“Now for’ard where ye belong!” cried the mate, addressing the seamen,
who by this time, rallying again, had no idea of losing their victim.
“The Mowree! the Mowree!” they shouted.
Here the doctor, in answer to the mate’s repeated questions, stepped
forward, and related what Bembo had been doing; a matter which the mate
but dimly understood from the violent threatenings he had been hearing.
For a moment he seemed to waver; but at last, turning the key of the
padlock of the slide, he breathed through his set teeth—“Ye can’t have
him; I’ll hand him over to the consul; so for’ard with ye, I say: when
there’s any drowning to be done, I’ll pass the word; so away with ye,
ye blood-thirsty pirates.”
It was to no purpose that they begged or threatened: Jermin, although
by no means sober, stood his ground manfully, and before long they
dispersed, soon to forget everything that had happened.
Though we had no opportunity to hear him confess it, Bembo’s intention
to destroy us was beyond all question. His only motive could have been
a desire to revenge the contumely heaped upon him the night previous,
operating upon a heart irreclaimably savage, and at no time fraternally
disposed toward the crew.
During the whole of this scene the doctor did his best to save him. But
well knowing that all I could do would have been equally useless, I
maintained my place at the wheel. Indeed, no one but Jermin could have
prevented this murder.
- title
- CHAPTER XXIV.
OUTBREAK OF THE CREW