ers. Great, indeed, is
the responsibility of a captain of a man-of-war; indeed, of any ship
where there are officers and men looking up to him. We had not been on
deck long when the admiral came off in his barge from the shore, and
three or four captains arrived in their gigs, as well as some military
men in shore boats. The first-lieutenant made Captain Staghorn's
apologies, saying that affairs of importance had taken him early on
shore, but that he would be off immediately.

The admiral walked up and down the deck rather impatiently, and looked
annoyed, as if Captain Staghorn was not treating him with proper
respect. He was also very hungry probably, and he kept continually
pulling out his watch and replacing it hurriedly in his fob. The
captains and other officers, aware, probably, of Captain Staghorn's
eccentricities, were less annoyed; but even they at times gave signs of
impatience. At length the signal midshipman announced that the
captain's gig was coming off down the harbour. My heart beat quick. I
never felt so anxious. Some midshipmen were in the main chains. I
joined them, eager to ascertain if my cousin's boat was also coming down
the harbour. I borrowed a glass. After a time I thought that I could
distinguish my cousin's boat coming down. Had he escaped; or had the
duel been prevented? I made out two officers seated in the stern, but
the boat passed at a distance from the Daring, and I was uncertain who
they were. I had been so eagerly watching the Pearl's gig, that I had
not observed the Daring's, which now approached. A murmur ran through
the ship--there was something solemn in the sound. I looked down with
an indefinite feeling of dread. Still, I expected to see Captain
Staghorn sitting upright, with his disagreeable companion by his side.
The major was there, but a human form lay in the stern-sheets, with a
boat's flag thrown over the face, to keep off the buzzing flies which
were clustering above it. The murmur increased into unmistakable
accents; the captain was dead--shot through the heart. I hurried to the
gangway, round which the admiral and officers and men were assembling.
The captain had returned at the hour he promised; but how differently!
The flag fell from his face as the corpse was being lifted on deck. The
eyes were open and staring horribly; the teeth were clenched, and the
mouth wore that same bad, disagreeable expression it had worn two short
hours before, when, fu