ed himself at their head, they
would have risen upon us and, all unarmed as they were, torn us to
pieces.

No such thought or fear, however, appeared to present itself to Captain
Pigot, for, instead of evincing or expressing any sorrow for what had
occurred, he imperiously ordered the hands to be mustered in the waist,
with the evident intention of "reading them a lecture," as he was wont
to term his too frequent hectoring addresses.

The men, sullen, and with suppressed fury blazing in their eyes and
revealing itself in their every gesture, swarmed aft and stood in
reckless expectation of some further outrage. Nor were they
disappointed.

"I have sent for you," the skipper began, in his most sneering and
contemptuous accents, "not to express any hypocritical sorrow for the
occurrence which has just taken place, but to point out to you the
obvious lesson which is to be learned from it--a lesson which I fear
your dense ignorance, your utter destitution of discernment and common-
sense, would prevent your ever discovering for yourselves. Within the
last half-hour two men have come to their deaths. How? Why, by a
sneaking, cowardly attempt to evade the punishment justly due to the
lazy, skulking, lubberly way in which they performed their duty. It
would have been better for them had they listened to the first
lieutenant's admonition and come quietly down from aloft, to receive at
a proper time the punishment which they richly deserved. But they must
needs attempt to shirk it, with the consequences which you have all
witnessed; and, so far as I am concerned, I can only say that I think
they have met with no more than their just deserts.

"But it is not of them I want to speak to you; it is of yourselves. The
same shirking, idle, rebellious spirit which distinguished them is
conspicuous in every one of you. It is little more than a couple of
hours ago that your officers waited upon me in a body to make formal
complaint of your idleness and insubordinate conduct. There was no
necessity for them to do any such thing, for I am not altogether lacking
in powers of observation, and I have not failed to notice that for some
time past there has been a general disposition on the part of all hands
to thwart and oppose me in every possible way; but I just mention the
fact of this complaint to show you that I am not alone in my opinion as
to your conduct. Now, my lads, you are a great many, and I am only one
man; but if y