wn upon the mate's naked shoulders with a demoniac
strength which seemed to literally bury them in the quivering flesh.
The mate responded to this with a sharp yell, which was greeted by the
mutineers with mocking laughter, Rogers remarking to Thomson that, "That
was pretty well; but, you know, you can do a deal better'n that." The
second stroke--but why go further with the description of the sickening
scene? Let it suffice to say that when the inanimate body of the mate
was cast loose from the grating, it bore the appearance of having been
mangled by the teeth and claws of some savage beast rather than by a
human being.

"So far, so good," observed Rogers. "That ends act the first. Now,
Thomson, it's your turn, you know. Strip, my boy, without makin' any
bones about it; and let's see if you can take y'ur punishment any
better'n your superior hossifer."

The man spoke in a rallying tone of such geniality that Thomson grew
more sanguine than ever as to the remission of the more serious part of
his sentence, and, with a ghastly grin in response to Rogers'
patronising smile, he began to slowly strip. He even, after drawing his
shirt over his head, summoned the courage to walk up to the grating,
and, leaning his body upon it, to spontaneously stretch out his arms and
legs to the proper position.

When the wretched man was securely "spread-eagled" on the grating,
Talbot and another man were ordered to step forward and administer the
flogging, which they did, relieving each other at the completion of
every dozen lashes, until the entire fifty had been inflicted. The
punishment was terribly severe; but the intense excitement under which
the second mate laboured enabled him to retain his consciousness
throughout, and even to stand without assistance on being cast loose. A
stiff "reviver" of grog was administered to him by Rogers' order, and he
was then told to dress himself.

The critical moment was now at hand when the miserable Thomson's state
of torturing suspense was to cease, when he would know for certain
whether these men were actually relentless, or whether, having already
wreaked an ample vengeance upon him, they would be content to ignore the
remainder of his sentence; which, after all, he was more than
half-inclined to believe was nothing but a cruel hoax, arranged
beforehand for the purpose of giving him a good fright.

Hopeful as he was, however, upon this score, he could not help feeling
terribly anx