.
If he resisted there would be blood spilt, and he did not like the
thought of that. He finally admitted to himself that the young officer
was only carrying out orders, and orders that were absolutely just.

"Well, come along!" he snarled ungraciously, and started forward. The
officer spoke a word of command, and the squad marched after him as
he, in turn, followed Nat.

Of all this Code had been ignorant, for the conversation had taken
place too far aft for him to hear. His first warning was when the
sailors marched past the window and Nat reluctantly opened the door of
the old storeroom.

"Officers are here to get you, Schofield," said the skipper of the
_Nettie B._ "Come out."

Wonderingly, Code stepped into the sunlight and open air and saw the
officer with his escort. With the resignation that he had summoned
during his five days of imprisonment he accepted his fate.

"I am ready," he said. "Let's go as soon as possible."

"Captain Schofield," said the subaltern, "you are to be transferred,
and I trust you will deem it advisable to go peaceably."

Catching sight of the six armed sailors, Code could not help
grinning.

"There's no question about it," he said; "I will."

"Form cordon!" ordered the officer, and the sailors surrounded
him--two before, two beside, and two behind. In this order they
marched to the cutter.

Code was told to get in first and take a seat looking aft. He did so,
and the officer dropped into the stern-sheets so as to face his
prisoner. The sailors took their position, shipped their oars smartly,
and the cutter was soon under way to the gunboat.

Arrived at the accommodation ladder, and on deck, Code found a vessel
with white decks, glistening brass work, and discipline that shamed
naval authority. The subaltern, saluting, reported to the deck-officer
that his mission had been completed, and the latter, after questioning
Code, ordered that he be taken to confinement quarters.

These quarters, unlike the pen on the _Nettie B._, were below the
deck, but were lighted by a porthole. The room was larger, had a
comfortable bunk, a small table loaded with magazines, a chair, and a
sanitary porcelain washstand. The luxury of the appointments was a
revelation.

There was no question of his escaping from this room he very soon
discovered.

The door was of heavy oak and locked on the outside. The walls were of
solid, smooth timber, and the porthole was too small to admit the
possibil