ll of life and strength, and confiding in the
firmness of his nerve and his correct eye, he had stepped carelessly
down the companion-ladder, determined grievously to wound or to take the
life of a fellow-creature. The doctor went through the form of
examining him to ascertain that he was dead. He lifted up a hand; it
fell heavily on the deck.

"There's no doubt about it," observed the major, coolly. "You never saw
a man alive with a hole drilled through him like that;" and he
scientifically pointed out the course the bullet had taken.

The admiral and other officers collected round, and he continued, "I
never saw anything more unexpected. He walked to the ground with the
air of a man going to a ball, laughing and joking the whole way. Not a
muscle shook as he took the pistol and placed himself in position
directly I had measured off the ground. I must say that Commander
Ceaton behaved with courage and as a gentleman; but it was evident that
neither he nor his second had the slightest notion of how to conduct
affairs of the sort. Commander Ceaton placed himself with his full
front facing his antagonist; and when I remonstrated with his second, as
he was not thus giving himself a fair chance, he said that his captain
chose to stand in that way, and that he would not change his position.
I then returned to my principal. I naturally asked where he intended to
hit his opponent. `In the head,' he replied; `his very look annoys me.'
I retired to give the signal. Which pistol went off first I do not
know; but instead of seeing Commander Ceaton drop, as I expected, I saw
my principal leap into the air and fall flat to the ground; while
Commander Ceaton stood unmoved. I never saw a man so cut up about a
thing. I should have supposed that he had killed a friend, instead of a
deadly enemy. We had positively to send the doctor to him to prevent
his fainting. And poor Staghorn here, he never expected such an
ending."

"But never was one more richly deserved," muttered the admiral, turning
away with a look of thorough disgust at the major's cold-blooded
indifference to his friend's awful death.

However, the admiral and other officers retired into the cabin to
discuss the breakfast prepared for them, though their host was not
present, with what appetite I cannot say. As I could not get an answer
to the note I had brought, I returned to the Doris to report what had
occurred.

"He has met his deserts; and yet how a