an electric flash through the little
town, and the unknown perpetrators were eulogistically stamped as
heroes.

No one knew better than this old-time shipmaster the amount of capital
that would be squeezed out of the incident by the gossips, and no one
recognized better than he the amount of odium that would stick to
himself. The poor fellow had been stabbed in a tender spot, and those
who knew him intimately foreshadowed a long period of bitter suffering
for him. Indeed, there were those who openly stated that he would not
long survive the insult to his professional authority. He intimated to
his employer that it was his intention to forthwith hold a
court-martial in his cabin, and requested him to take part in the
investigation. The owner was a person gifted with a sense of humour. He
laconically expressed his willingness to remain aboard, but refused to
have anything to do with the official inquiry.

The mate's Christian name was Matthew, but he was commonly addressed as
Matt. The dignity of Mr was never by any chance applied to chief
officers of this class of vessel, though quarter-deck manners were
always strictly sustained so far as the captain was concerned. He was
the only person who claimed the right of being addressed as "Sir," and
he would brook no violation of its use. Matt, as he was called, was
made the medium of communicating the master's wishes that the
apprentices should meet him in his cabin immediately. The rugged
officer was smitten with the comical aspect of his mission, though he
carried it out in a strictly punctilious manner. These rough, uncouth
men never wilfully offended the susceptibilities of their commanders,
unless they became unbearably despotic, then they retaliated with
unsparing vengeance. The three apprentices promptly obeyed the command
given to them, and were ushered into the presence of their infuriated
captain. They were each handsome, broad-shouldered athletes, with keen,
sparkling, fearless eyes that indicated fearlessness. He made a short,
jerky, almost inarticulate speech on the wickedness and indecency of
committing an act of gross disrespect to the vessel, the owner and
himself, all of whom should have been shielded from ridicule.

"I have had you brought to me," he said, "in order that I might learn
from your own lips whether you are the perpetrators of this base
robbery and vile insult to myself. I ask each of you, are you guilty of
committing or assisting to commit thi