if I refrain from putting you in irons. Have I your word of
honour that you will not leave this ship until I hand you over to the
proper authorities in the United States?"

"You have, sir."

"You are a very head-strong, ambitious young man. You will not jump
overboard and try to beat us into port under your own steam?"

"You may trust me, sir, never to give up the ship."

"And you will kill as many Germans as possible?"

"Yes, sir," said A. A. Percival submissively.

Captain Trigger arose and extended his hand.

"I've never done anything like this before in all my years as ship's
master. You ought to be flogged and stowed away in the brig until you
show a properly subdued spirit, young man. I suppose you've heard of the
cat-o'-nine-tails?"

"My reading up to the age of fifteen was confined almost exclusively to
the genteel histories of pirates, buccaneers and privateersmen, Captain
Trigger," announced A. A. Percival, taking the master's hand in a
firm grip. "I wonder if you know what a black-snake whip is, or a
cattle-adder? Well, they're both painful and convincing. As director of
morals in the camp I have just left behind me, it was my official duty
on frequent occasions to see to it that current offenders had from
fifteen to fifty applications of the black-snake in a public sort of
way. The black-snake, I may explain, could be wielded by a strong but
unskilled arm. It was different, however, with the cattle-adder. That
had to be handled by an expert, one who could stand off twenty paces,
more or less, and crack the long lash with such astonishing precision
that the tip end of it barely touched the back of the culprit, the
result being a nobby assortment of splotches that looked for all the
world like hives after the blood got back into them again. You see,
I was chief magistrate, executioner ex-officio, chief of police, jury
commissioner--in fact, an all-around potentate. Sort of Pooh-bah, you
know. For serious offences, such as wife beating, wife stealing,
or having more than one wife at a time, we were not so lenient. The
offender, on conviction, was strung up by the thumbs and used as a
target by amateurs who desired to become proficient in the use of the
cattle-adder. Murderers were attended to a trifle more expeditiously.
They were strung up by the neck."

"Good God, man,--do you mean to say you hung men in that off-hand
fashion?" cried Captain Trigger, aghast.

"Not without a fair trial, sir. No inn