y handcuffed, we were committed to the
charge of the lieutenant-at-arms, and placed under a guard of marines.

I begged Captain Pakenham to listen to me, asserting as before that I
had never joined the mutineers, and called upon Hagger and the others to
bear witness to the truth of what I said, Hagger, stepping out from
among the men drawn up on either side of the deck, declared that what I
said was the truth; that we had both tried to escape from the first, but
had been prevented; and that, as the officers knew, I was among the
best-conducted men in the ship.

"All you have to say will be heard at the trial, which will, depend upon
it, be held in a few days," answered Captain Pakenham. "You were found
among the ringleaders, who refused, when summoned at the last, to come
up and return to their duty; you must therefore, meantime, abide by the
consequences."

No words can describe the grief and dismay I felt, not on my own
account, but lest my wife and uncle and aunt should hear what, had
happened. They would be confident that I was innocent, but at the same
time they would know the risk I ran of being inculpated with the guilty.
How could I prove that I had taken no part in the mutiny? I had been
below all the time, and except on the evidence of Hagger, I could not
prove that I had made any attempt to escape. His evidence, indeed,
might not be of any value, as he had been with me, and had himself
remained below. I had been found with the ringleaders, and very
probably two such utter scoundrels as were Berkeley and Pratt would not,
unless it could benefit themselves, be induced to confess that they had
kept me back by force.

I entreated to be supplied with paper and pen and ink, that I might
write to Uncle Kelson to tell him what had happened, and beg him to
break the news to Margaret, as also to ask him if he could procure legal
advice; but the boon was refused me, and I was told that before the
trial I should not be allowed to hold communication with anybody.

The prisoners in vain tried to keep up their spirits. Most of them soon
broke down altogether, and sat with their heads bent, resting on their
manacled hands, except two desperate fellows who had long faced death in
every form, and were not afraid of him now, though they well knew what
the punishment of their crime must be. Men were hung for lesser crimes
than theirs, and the maintenance of discipline being the great object of
the authorities, they w