ious; and it was with the utmost difficulty that he
controlled his quaking nerves sufficiently to replace his clothing
without assistance. During the time that he was thus engaged, the
circle which hemmed him in was maintained unbroken; the mutineers
watching his motions with strong interest, and indulging freely in
jocular comments and jeering encouragement as he winced and shrank at
the chafe of his clothing on his lacerated back and shoulders.

At length he stood once more before them, fully clothed, his eyes
glowing like carbuncles, his visage blanched, and his whole frame
quivering with pain and the tensity of excitement and suspense.

"Wery good, Thomson; wery good indeed," remarked Rogers approvingly;
"you've showed a great deal more pluck than any of us have ever give you
credit for--so far. If you only behaves as well for the next ten
minutes, we shall feel quite a respec' for y'ur mem'ry. Now, shipmates,
and pris'ners all, for'ard we goes, to carry out the second part of the
sentence."

At the word, two of the mutineers stepped forward, and, placing
themselves one on each side of the second mate, linked their arms in his
and led him forward, halting him just beneath the fore-yard; the
remainder of the crowd following in a body and forming in a circle round
him as before. Then, at Rogers' command, one of the mutineers separated
himself from the main body, and in the course of a minute or two was
seen leisurely ascending the fore-rigging with a tail-block in one hand
and the end of a coil of light line in the other.

Thomson glanced upward at this man, and like a lightning-stroke the
conviction flashed upon him that his doom _was_ indeed sealed--that the
death-sentence passed upon him was no grim and ghastly piece of
jocularity, no hoax practised upon him to test his courage, but that it
was spoken in cruel and bitter earnest. For a second or two his heart
stood still, his head swam, his sight failed him, and a feeling of
horrible nausea oppressed him. He realised at last that he was about to
die; that, standing there on that reeling deck as he did in the full
strength and prime of lusty manhood, with all his energies mental and
physical at their best, the sands of his life had so nearly run out that
the few last grains were even now falling in the hour-glass of his fate.
Then, in a single instant, the whole of his past life rose up before
him, with every thought, word, and deed clearly and sharply repr