h menacingly; and then, speaking out louder he
said, that all could hear, "I tell ye what I'll do: I am willin' to go
ashore at the first available port we ken stop at an' lay the whole of
the circumstances before the British or American consul, an' take the
consequences--fur you all ken give evidence against me if ye like! I
can't say fairer nor thet men, can I?"

"No, cap," they chorussed, as if perfectly satisfied with this promise,
"nothing can be fairer nor that!"

"All right; thet 'll do, the watch, then."

"But, thet b'y thaar?" called out Hiram Bangs, as they were all
shuffling forward again, now that the palaver was over and the subject
thoroughly discussed, as they thought, in all its bearings; "yer won't
leather him no more? The little cuss warn't to blame; the nigger said
so, hisself!"

"No, I won't thrash him agen, since he's a friend o' yer's," replied the
skipper, jocularly, evidently glad that the affair was now hushed up.
"Ye ken cut him down if ye like, an' take him forrud with ye."

"Right ye air, cap, so we will," said Hiram, producing his clasp knife
in a jiffey and severing the lashings that bound me to the rigging,
"Come along, Cholly; an' we'll warm ye up in the fo'c's'le arter yer
warmin' up aft from the skipper!"

The hands responded with a laugh to this witticism, apparently
forgetting all about the terrible scene that had so lately taken place,
as they escorted me in triumph towards the fore part of the ship; while
the captain went up on the poop and relieved Jan Steenbock, speaking to
him very surlily, and telling him to go down into the cabin and see what
had become of the first-mate, Mr Flinders, and if he was any better,
and fit to come on duty. As for himself, he had now quite recovered
from the effects of whatever the unfortunate cook had put into the stew
he had eaten, and which had alarmed him with the fear of being poisoned.

I, however, could not so readily put the fearful scene I had been such
an unwilling witness of so quickly out of my remembrance; and, as I went
forward with the kind-hearted but thoughtless fellows who had saved me
from a further thrashing, I felt quite sick with horror. A dread
weight, as of something more horrible still, that was about to happen,
filled my mind.

Nor did the conversation I heard in the fo'c's'le tend to soothe my
startled nerves and make me feel more comfortable.

The men's tea was still in the coppers, poor Sam having made up a