Thetis, and had the
choice of being sent to prison, and tried for his share in the killing
of some of the coast guards, or of going before the mast. I was a
lieutenant in the Thetis at the time, and I suppose, because I did not
then interfere on his behalf, he has now trumped up this accusation
against me, an accusation I defy him to prove."

"You are mistaken, Lieutenant Horton," the admiral said. "Captain
Walsham is not your accuser. Nay, more, he has himself committed a
grave dereliction of duty in trying to screen you, and by endeavouring
to destroy the principal evidence against you. Mr. Middleton overheard
a conversation between the Canadian pilot and the French general, and
the former described how he had been liberated by an English officer,
who assisted him to escape by a rope from the porthole in his cabin."

"I do not see that that is any evidence against me," Richard Horton
said. "In the first place, the man may have been lying. In the second
place, unless he mentioned my name, why am I suspected more than any
other officer? And, even if he did mention my name, my word is surely
as good as that of a Canadian prisoner. It is probable that the man was
released by one of the crew--some man, perhaps, who owed me a
grudge--who told him to say that it was I who freed him, in hopes that
some day this outrageous story might get about."

"Your suggestions are plausible, Mr. Horton," the admiral said coldly.
"Unfortunately, it is not on the word of this Canadian that we have to
depend.

"There, sir," he said, holding out the letter; "there is the chief
witness against you. Captain Peters instantly recognized your
handwriting, as Mr. Middleton had done before him."

Richard Horton stood gazing speechlessly at the letter. So confounded
was he, by the unexpected production of this fatal missive, that he was
unable to utter a single word of explanation or excuse.

"Lay your sword on the table, sir," the admiral said, "and retire to
your cabin, where you will remain, under close arrest, till a court
martial can be assembled."

Richard Horton unbuckled his sword and laid it on the table, and left
the cabin without a word.

"It would have been better to send a guard with him," Captain Peters
said; "he might jump overboard, or blow his brains out."

"Quite so, Peters," the admiral said. "The very thing that was in my
mind, when I told him to retire to his cabin--the very best thing he
could do, for himself and for