captain, "I would much
rather you let them off than that I should; for it strikes me, that
all the useful ends of discipline will be much better served, and your
hands, as well as mine, essentially strengthened, by your taking the
initiative in this business instead of me. My advice to you,
therefore, is, that when I go below you send for the men, and say to
them you have read their statement, and that, although it does by no
means excuse, it certainly explains, and so far extenuates, their
offence, that you feel disposed to try what your influence with the
captain can do to get them off altogether."

"I do not see the force of your reasoning," answered the offended
officer; "nor can I conscientiously trifle with the service in the
manner proposed. I thought at first, and I still think, that these men
ought to be punished; and, as far as I am concerned, they certainly
shall not escape."

"Well, well," cried the captain, "you will not, I hope, deny that I am
the best judge of what is right and fitting to be done on board this
ship; and I tell you again, that I consider the discipline will be
better served by your being the mover in this case, than by my taking
the affair, as you wish me to do, entirely out of your hands. Will you
do as I suggest?"

"I beg your pardon, sir, but really I cannot, consistently with my
sense of duty, adopt the course you propose. I think it right to
insist, as far as I can with propriety, on these men being punished."

"Turn the hands up for punishment, then!" said the captain to the
first lieutenant, who had been walking on the other side of the deck
during this colloquy; "and let the three prisoners be brought on
deck."

The gratings were soon rigged under the mizen-stay--the
quarter-masters placed with their seizings on either side--the
boatswain and his mates (with the terrible weapons of naval law barely
concealed under their jackets) arranged themselves in a group round
the mast--while the marines, with fixed bayonets and shoulder arms,
formed across the quarter-deck; and the ship's company, standing in
two double rows, lined the sides of the deck. Not the slightest sound
could be heard; and a person coming on deck blindfolded might have
thought the ship lay in dock, without a soul on board.

In the middle of the open space before the hatchway stood the three
culprits, with their hats off, and their eyes cast down in hopeless
despair; but, to all outward appearance, firm and unm