"On behalf of the whole crew of this here ship--the _Princess Royal_--I
charges Robert Arnold, late skipper of the same, with havin' treated all
hands before the mast in a most onjustifiable manner. As you're fully
aweer, shipmates, we was short-handed when we left London; and at
Plymouth the men-o'-war robbed us of four of our best hands, makin' us
more short-handed still. Very well. Now what's the dooty of a skipper
to his crew under such sarcumstances as this here? Why, I say his dooty
is to make things as easy as possible for 'em. Instead o' which this
here Robert Arnold, the prisoner as we're tryin', he goes and expects us
to do as much work, and to do it as smartly, as if the ship was fully
manned. And because we couldn't do it--as it stands to reason we
couldn't--he goes and makes _extra_ work for us by way of punishment; he
robs us of our a'ternoon watch below; he stops our grog; he tyrannises
over us in every imaginable way; he treats us like dogs and not like
men, abusin' and bullyin' us, and goin' out of his way to hurt our
feelin's; he refuses to listen to our just complaints; he encourages the
first and second mates to sarve out to us the same sort of treatment as
he gives us hisself, instead of takin' our part and treatin' us with
justice; and he does all this not once in a way only, but from the very
commencement of the v'yage. And, lastly, he orders a sick man to be
flogged; laughs at the poor chap's sufferin's; and refuses to sarve out
the necessaries to dress his wounds a'terwards. That, shipmates, is the
charge I brings against Robert Arnold."
"You hears the charge agin the prisoner, shipmates all?" observed
Rogers, glancing round the table. "Ben Talbot brings this here charge
in the name of all hands; so, if there's any of yer as disagrees with
what he've said, just stand up like men and say so."
A profound silence followed, no man making the slightest sign or token
of dissent. "Very well," resumed Rogers; "nobody don't seem to have
anything to say agin the charge. Now, you that _agrees_ with Talbot,
and thinks as he've stated the case fairly, hold up y'ur hands."
Every hand was at once and unhesitatingly raised at arm's length.
"Unanermous," pronounced Rogers. "Now, Robert Arnold, you've heard
what's been charged agin yer, and you've seen that all hands of us
agrees that the charge is just. What have yer got to say in y'ur
defence?"
"Nothing," answered the captain; "except that I utterly disclaim your
right to sit in judgment upon me or to criticise my actions in any
manner whatsoever. Your conduct is in the last degree illegal and
unjustifiable. You are a pack of mutinous scoundrels; and I warn you
that a terrible punishment will surely overtake you if you persist in
your defiance of my authority. If, however, you will return to your
duty and deliver up to us, your duly appointed officers, the ringleaders
in this disgraceful mutiny, I will undertake to overlook this most
serious offence, so far as the rest of you are concerned."
"You hear what the prisoner says, shipmates," observed Rogers calmly.
"Do you consider as he've made good his defence? Is it your opinion as
he've justified hisself? Them as thinks he have, hold up their hands.
Them as thinks he haven't, stand up."
The self-constituted judges with one accord rose to their feet.
"That'll do; you may sit down agin," remarked Rogers. "The prisoner is
found _guilty_. The next question to be settled is the matter of
punishment. Now, there's a many ways of punishing a man, some on 'em
more severe than others. The most severest as I knows is _death_; death
by hangin' from the yard-arm. Them as thinks the prisoner Arnold
deservin' of this punishment, hold up their hands."
Two or three hands were hesitatingly raised, and, after a slight pause,
lowered again.
"Do I understand as _everybody_ thinks hangin' too severe?" inquired
Rogers, glancing slowly round the table. "I do,"--as no hands were
shown. "Well then, let's try something else. Perhaps, shipmates, some
of yer's got a hidee as you'd like to put afore the court? If so, let's
hear what it is."
"I thinks as it would be no more nor he desarves if we was to treat him
for the rest of the v'yage as he've treated us from the beginnin' of it.
He'd know then what it's like, and if he lives long enough to get the
command of another ship, maybe he'll then know better how to treat his
crew," observed one of the men.
"Not at all a bad idee," commented Rogers. "You've heard what Phil
says; what d'ye think on't?"
"I thinks it's a capical notion," remarked one.
"I'm agreeable," intimated another.
"Ay; let's see how he likes that sort of thing hisself," remarked a
third.
And so on; all hands intimating their concurrence in the suggestion.
"Wery good," remarked Rogers, when all had spoken. Then, turning to the
captain, he said--
"Robert Arnold, the sentence of this here court is that you'm to be
turned for'ard and conwerted into a `hordinary seaman,' to do a
hordinary seaman's dooties, and to receive just exactly the same
treatment as you've sarved out to the hands since this here ship sailed
from Hold England, namely, more kicks than ha'pence. And the Lord have
mercy on yer miserable carcase!"
He paused for a moment on concluding this--in his opinion--impressive
address, and then ordered that Arnold should be removed to the
forecastle, and the chief mate brought forward.
This was done, and as Nicholls, the chief mate, stepped forward in
answer to his name, his ashy pale face, his trepidation of manner, and
his imperfect articulation all showed him to be labouring under a very
agony of fear.
The charge against him was also preferred by Talbot in pretty much the
same language as was used by that individual in his charge against the
captain; the accusation in the present case, however, being to the
effect that Nicholls, occupying as he did the influential post of chief
mate, had, instead of using his influence with the captain to make
matters as agreeable as possible for the men, countenanced, aided,
abetted, and encouraged his superior in the adoption of a harsh and
tyrannical course of conduct. Upon this charge he was found guilty; and
his sentence was similar to that of the captain's, with the addition
that he was to receive at the gangway twenty-five lashes, well laid on.
Thomson, the second mate, was now called forward; and the yell of
fiendish delight which greeted him as the bully staggered up to the
cabin-table, fairly caused his teeth to chatter with affright.
The charge against him was made by Talbot, who plunged eagerly into his
task with a manifest gusto which had been well suppressed in the
previous cases. The indictment was very similar to that preferred
against Nicholls; but, in addition to all that the latter had been
charged with, Talbot rapidly enumerated a long list of wanton cruelties
and petty tyrannies which had sprung spontaneously and unprompted as it
were from the second mate's own evil nature. At the conclusion of
Talbot's address the men, without waiting for Rogers to formally charge
them, sprang eagerly to their feet and clamorously declared the prisoner
guilty.
The question of punishment was then referred to by Rogers; and the
moment that he ceased to speak, the shout of "Death! Death! Hanging
from the yard-arm," rang through the cabin. "And let him have five
dozen at the gangway before he's strung up, just by way of payin' off
Dicky Rudd's debt with interest," added a voice. The suggestion was
carried by acclamation; and the miserable man was informed that the
sentence against him would be carried into effect at the conclusion of
the trial of the fourth prisoner, Lieutenant Walford, who was now
commanded to stand forward.
Walford stepped up to the cabin-table with an assumption of firmness
which was completely belied by the ghastly pallor of his countenance and
the convulsive twitching of his white lips. Grasping the table with
both hands, he said in a voice which he in vain attempted to render
steady--
"Before you proceed any further in this matter I wish to remind you that
I am merely a _passenger_ on board this ship, and that I have nothing
whatever to do with any quarrel which may exist between you and your
officers. I have heard the charges which you have preferred against
them, and I am wholly at a loss to understand in what way you associate
me with them; you can scarcely suppose, I imagine, that the passengers
would regard themselves as called upon to interfere in the management or
discipline of the ship; for my own part, I have always considered you
quite able to manage your own affairs, and quite capable of putting a
stop to any injustice to which you might be subjected; you never
appealed to me for help, and you therefore ought not to be surprised if
I have held aloof."
He paused here for a moment and glanced anxiously round the table to
note the effect of his address, and seeing, by the stern expression on
the faces of the men seated at the table, that he had wholly failed to
make a favourable impression, he hastily proceeded to add--
"Furthermore, let me remind you that I am an officer and a gentleman,
the wearer of his Most Gracious Majesty's uniform, and in virtue of that
fact I may claim--I _do_ claim--to be in some sort his Majesty's
representative, on board this ship. Any violence or indignity offered
to me, therefore, is tantamount to offering the same to the king
himself; and, as you are all fully aware, to offer indignity or violence
to the king's person is high treason, a crime punishable with death. I
hope, therefore, that you will pause and consider well the consequences
of any hasty action which your present temporary assumption of power
might betray you into, and that, before it is too late, and before you
have too deeply inculpated yourselves, you will see the advisability of
restoring to me my freedom."
If he expected this appeal to be of any benefit to him he was sorely
disappointed, for the gloomy, repellent expression on the faces of his
judges, was only deepened by his ill-advised address.
A moment or two of complete silence followed the utterance of his
closing words; and then Rogers, looking him straight in the face, said--
"Well, pris'ner, have yer quite finished?"
"Surely I have said sufficient to demonstrate to you the impolicy, as
well as the injustice, of making me suffer for the faults of others?"
exclaimed Walford.
"Glad you think so," replied Rogers, with a sardonic grin. "Howsoever,"
he continued, "you may keep y'ur mind easy about one thing; we ain't
goin' to make yer `suffer for the faults of others,' as you calls it;
you'll only be made to suffer for faults of y'ur own; and bad enough
you'll find that, I reckon. Now, Ben, what's the charge agin this one?"
"I charges him," answered Talbot, "with havin' wilfully spoke the words
what got poor Dicky Rudd two dozen lashes at the gangway, when the poor
feller was 'most too sick to stand upright. If he hadn't spoke as
likely as not the skipper had never ha' thought of it, and, so far as
that goes, I believes that all hands of us is agreed that he wouldn't.
Therefore I charges this here pris'ner with bein' the man what acshully
got poor Dicky his floggin'."
"You hears, pris'ner, what the crew has against yer; what have yer got
to say to it?" interrogated Rogers.
Walford had evidently either forgotten all about his ill-advised
suggestion, or had believed the crew to be ignorant of it: he seemed to
have thought that the utmost extent of the mutineers' complaint against
him would be that he had not interfered in their behalf. When therefore
he heard the charge against him, and realised the fact that he was
wholly in their power, and utterly at their mercy, his courage--which at
the best of times was only of a very flimsy and unreliable character--
utterly gave way; he involuntarily turned his eyes for a moment upon the
miserable second mate; recalled the fact that the wretched man had been
doomed to a speedy and degrading death by the same individuals who were
now sitting in judgment upon him; and a shameful panic took possession
of him. An uncontrollable shivering fit seized his frame, he was
obliged to clench his teeth together, to prevent them from chattering
audibly; he glanced wildly round him as if seeking for some means of
escape; and, after two or three ineffectual efforts to speak, he managed
to gasp out brokenly through his clenched teeth and quivering lips--
"I--I--I give you--my--my sacred word of honour, gen-gentlemen, that I
was o-only in--jest. I nev-never believed for a--a moment that
Cap-t-tain Arnold would t-take my remark seriously, or I as-sure you I
would n-n-ever have uttered it. And besides, I re-real-ly believed that
your--friend R-R-udd was--was only sh-h--er--ah--I beg your pardon
gentlemen, I sc-scarcely know what I am saying, but--oh, gentlemen I
don't be hard upon me--have mercy upon me, for God's sake! Spare my
life, and you may do with me what you will."
He ceased, from sheer physical inability to utter another word, and,
sinking upon his knees, stretched forth his quaking hands in a mute
appeal for mercy.
This disgraceful exhibition of cowardice was _almost_ successful in
winning for Walford an ignominious release. The mutineers were so
unutterably disgusted that, for a moment, their impulse was to kick him
out of the cabin like a craven hound and henceforward ignore his
existence. But this impulse lasted only for a moment; they recalled to
mind the insolent arrogance with which this same cowering creature had
treated them when he deemed himself secure from retaliation; and they
determined that, while his miserable life was not worth the taking, he
should still receive so salutary a lesson as should effectually deter
him from any repetition of the offence for the remainder of his life.
"Well, shipmates," exclaimed Rogers, breaking the painful silence which
had followed Walford's shameful appeal, "what d'ye think? Is the
pris'ner guilty or not guilty?"
"_Guilty_!" was the unanimous declaration of the assembly.
"Guilty? In course he is. And what's the punishment to be? Death?"
"Oh, no! Not death--not death, gentlemen. For the love of God, spare
my life; I am not fit to die; I am not indeed. You see how young a man
I am; why, I have never yet thought about dying. Mercy! mercy!"
shrieked the miserable wretch as he grovelled on his knees before them,
and sought to clasp the knees of the man nearest him--an attempt which
was repulsed with an oath, a look of unutterable loathing, a kick, and a
brutal blow on the mouth.
"Come, lads, speak up," urged Rogers, wholly unmoved by the
interruption, "say what the punishment's to be, and let's have done with
it. I'm sick of this here, I am."
"Well," said Talbot, stepping forward, "I wotes that the prisoner be
first made to go and axe poor Dicky's pardon. If he can't get it, why,
let's string him up at the yard-arm to balance t'other one. But if
Dicky likes to forgi'e him, well, we'll spare his life and redooce his
punishment to two dozen at the gangway--same as he got for Rudd--and
make him do Rudd's dooty 'til the poor chap's better; arter which the
prisoner can be set to do all the dirty work o' the ship. How's that,
shipmates?"
"Ay, ay, Ben; that'll do, bo', that'll do fust-rate. And he may thank
his lucky stars at bein' let off so precious easy," was Rogers' reply;
in which the remainder of the men laughingly acquiesced.
"Then you'd better step this way at once, young feller," remarked Talbot
to the miserable Walford, "and see what you can do with poor Dicky. If
he won't forgive yer, mind, it's all up with yer."
So saying he opened the door of the state-room in which Rudd was lying,
thrust his victim into the apartment, and closed the door upon him.
The state-room into which Walford was thus unceremoniously ushered was
divided from the saloon by a bulkhead with a door in it, the upper panel
of which was fitted with sloping slats like those of the Venetian
window-blinds of the present day; it was perfectly easy, therefore, for
an occupant of the state-room to hear all that passed in the saloon, and
_vice versa_. As a matter of fact, Rudd, who was lying in his berth,
broad awake, _had_ heard every word uttered during the course of the
trial, and shrewdly suspecting that his shipmates were more anxious to
thoroughly frighten than to actually hurt their fourth prisoner, and
having, moreover, a trifling personal grudge against the man who had
secured for him his flogging, he determined to have a little amusement
at Walford's expense before according to him the pardon which he knew
his shipmates expected of him. When, therefore, Walford staggered up to
the side of the berth, and began eagerly and incoherently to stammer
forth the most abject apologies and the wildest prayers for forgiveness,
Rudd simply growled forth an oath and impatiently flung himself over in
the berth with his back to the petitioner. This had the intended effect
of causing Walford's apologies and prayers to be reiterated with
increased eagerness and incoherence, to the hearty amusement of the men
in the saloon.
At length Talbot opened the state-room door, and, thrusting in his head,
said roughly--
"Here, come out of that, mister; you've worried poor Dicky quite long
enough. If he won't forgive yer, why, he _won't_, and that settles it.
You've had a fair chance to see what you could do with him, and you've
failed; we decided to give yer a quarter of a hour, and the time's up;
so out you comes; d'ye hear?"
The next moment Walford was seized by the collar, and was being dragged
roughly enough out of the state-room, when Rudd, pretending to relent,
called out--
"There, take him away, Ben; but don't be too hard on him; I forgives him
just this once, and I hopes he won't never do it again."
Walford, upon hearing these words, which seemed to him a reprieve from
the very jaws of death, broke away from Talbot's grasp, and, rushing
back to the side of the berth, seized Rudd's hand, kissed it wildly, and
burst into an uncontrollable passion of tears, in the midst of which he
was hustled unceremoniously out on deck.