de it, with the blood pouring from his shoulder. He was sitting up,
supporting himself on his left hand. The skipper assisted him to his
feet, and Warby tried to help, but Sarreo turned on him and cursed him,
and said that he (Warby) had tried to murder him. The supercargo swore
that he had not seen him when he fired, but further talk was cut short
by Sarreo going faint through loss of blood, so they carried him to the
boat.

"That was the story so far, and Robertson asked me what I thought of it.

"Now I had been shipmates with Sarreo off and on for a matter of five
or six years, and I never knew him to tell a lie; but at the same time I
couldn't think Warby would be such a brute as to try and murder the
man in cold blood. The skipper, however, took a very black view of the
matter, and told me that if we met a man-of-war he would put Warby in
irons, signal for a boat, and hand him over on a charge of attempted
murder. Then we went out into the main cabin and sat down, and Robertson
told the steward to call the supercargo.

"Warby came below at once. He gave a quick glance at Sarreo, then at
the skipper and myself, and sat down quietly. In less than a minute the
captain told him of his suspicions and what he intended doing if we met
a man-of-war.

"I thought Warby would bluster and blaspheme in his usual way; but he
didn't. He listened in silence. Then he rose and put his hands on the
cabin table, and said--

"'Before God, I swear to you both that I am innocent I did not fire at
that man; I did not even see him again after he disappeared into the
grass--as the Almighty is my judge, I did not... I did mean to take it
out of Sarreo for nearly breaking my skull the other day; but then
I remembered afterwards that he had cause to hate me, and I was only
waiting for a chance to ask him to make it up. And I say again that I
am no cowardly murderer; when I fired, I fired at the boar or what I
honestly thought was the boar, struggling in the grass. You can put me
in irons now if you like; or shut me up in my cabin. I'm not going to
sit down at the same table with men who suspect me of attempted murder.'

"There was something in his voice which made us believe him, and then he
took a couple of turns up and down the cabin deck, and stepped up to the
wounded man.

"'Sarreo, I did you a bad turn a long time ago; but I'm sorry for it
now--I have been sorry for it ever since. But I did not know where to
find you, and I would