rly into his
task with a manifest gusto which had been well suppressed in the
previous cases. The indictment was very similar to that preferred
against Nicholls; but, in addition to all that the latter had been
charged with, Talbot rapidly enumerated a long list of wanton cruelties
and petty tyrannies which had sprung spontaneously and unprompted as it
were from the second mate's own evil nature. At the conclusion of
Talbot's address the men, without waiting for Rogers to formally charge
them, sprang eagerly to their feet and clamorously declared the prisoner
guilty.

The question of punishment was then referred to by Rogers; and the
moment that he ceased to speak, the shout of "Death! Death! Hanging
from the yard-arm," rang through the cabin. "And let him have five
dozen at the gangway before he's strung up, just by way of payin' off
Dicky Rudd's debt with interest," added a voice. The suggestion was
carried by acclamation; and the miserable man was informed that the
sentence against him would be carried into effect at the conclusion of
the trial of the fourth prisoner, Lieutenant Walford, who was now
commanded to stand forward.

Walford stepped up to the cabin-table with an assumption of firmness
which was completely belied by the ghastly pallor of his countenance and
the convulsive twitching of his white lips. Grasping the table with
both hands, he said in a voice which he in vain attempted to render
steady--

"Before you proceed any further in this matter I wish to remind you that
I am merely a _passenger_ on board this ship, and that I have nothing
whatever to do with any quarrel which may exist between you and your
officers. I have heard the charges which you have preferred against
them, and I am wholly at a loss to understand in what way you associate
me with them; you can scarcely suppose, I imagine, that the passengers
would regard themselves as called upon to interfere in the management or
discipline of the ship; for my own part, I have always considered you
quite able to manage your own affairs, and quite capable of putting a
stop to any injustice to which you might be subjected; you never
appealed to me for help, and you therefore ought not to be surprised if
I have held aloof."

He paused here for a moment and glanced anxiously round the table to
note the effect of his address, and seeing, by the stern expression on
the faces of the men seated at the table, that he had wholly failed to
make a