the cabin and rush on deck was the work
of a moment, and I reached the scene of action just as the loaded guns
were being run out.

"Stop!" I shouted. "What are you about to do, men? You have utterly
mistaken your captain's orders if you suppose he meant you to fire upon
that boat! Order them to secure the guns," I continued, turning to
Mendouca; "it surely _cannot_ be that you are going to allow the
excitement of battle to betray you into the committal of a cold-blooded
murder? You have beaten off your enemies, and they are in full retreat;
let that satisfy you. Hitherto you have been _fighting_, and, as you
are aware, the present state of the law is such that you are held
justifiable in your act of self-defence; but should you fire upon that
boat now it will be _murder_, and I swear to you that if you do I will
testify against you for the deed, if I live so long. Man, have you no
regard for _yourself_? Do you suppose that the captain of yonder brig
will be content to take the beating off of his boats as a final
settlement of this night's doings? I tell you he will follow you and
hunt you to the world's end, ay, and _take_ you, sooner or later! And
what do you suppose will be your fate if you murder that retreating
boat's crew? Why, you will swing for the deed, as certainly as that you
now stand there glaring at me!"

"Have you finished?" he demanded, in a voice almost inarticulate with
fury, his hand resting meanwhile upon the butt of a pistol that was
stuck in his sash.

"Yes," said I, "I have. That is to say, I have finished if I have
succeeded in preventing the perpetration of an act of miserable
cowardice that in your cooler moments would cause you to hate and
despise yourself for the remainder of your life; not otherwise."

Slowly he removed his hand from the butt of his pistol and, with a
bitter laugh, drew a cigar from his pocket and lighted it.

"Secure the guns!" he shouted to his men. Then walking up to me and
clutching me by the shoulder, he said--

"You have triumphed again. But I warn you that some day you will go too
far, and pay for your temerity with your life. Do you know that while
you were speaking you were actually tottering upon the very brink of the
grave? Why I did not blow your brains out, I do not know. Boy, if you
have any wish to live out your days, never taunt me with cowardice
again! There, go below, and do not let me see you again until I have
recovered my self-co