"Do you think I have done that, Mr. Pillgrim?" demanded Somers, not a little excited by the charge, from such a source. "I know you have. I saw your commission on the table." "I took the commission, I grant, but I have no intention of using it." "Why did you take it then?" "For the purpose of gaining information." "Have you gained it?" demanded Mr. Pillgrim, with a hardly perceptible sneer. "I have." "You received written orders, also." "I did; and if I had obtained a foothold on the deck of the vessel to which I was ordered, you would have seen how quick I should have passed her over to my government." "That is a very plausible explanation, Mr. Somers," added the lieutenant. "But why did you sign the oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy?" "I did not." "I beg your pardon, but I saw the document with your signature affixed to it." "You are mistaken, Mr. Pillgrim." "Can I refuse to believe the evidence of my own eyes?" "Nevertheless, I must persist in saying that I did not sign the oath." "After what you have done, Mr. Somers, I could hardly expect you to acknowledge it to a loyal officer. Are you aware that any court martial would convict you, on the evidence against you, of treason, and sentence you to death?" "I think not, when it was made to appear that all I did was in the service of my country." Somers shuddered when he thought of a traitor's doom, and for the first time realized that he had accumulated more evidence against himself than against the conspirators. The commander's commission and the written orders were almost, if not quite, enough to hang him. "You don't believe what you say, Mr. Somers, and of course you cannot expect me to believe it," said Pillgrim, when he saw his brother officer musing, and looking rather anxious. "I speak the truth, Mr. Pillgrim," replied Somers, unable to turn his attention entirely away from the consequences which might follow some of these appearances against him. "Somers, I have felt a deep interest in you. I have all along desired to be your friend. This is the only reason why I did not prefer charges against you before the ship sailed. Now, I advise you not to deny what is as plain as truth can make it. I am your friend. Own up to me, and I promise never to betray you." "Would your friend Langdon, _alias_ Lieutenant Wynkoop, R. N., be equally considerate?" asked Somers, provoked into making this unguarded remark by the hypocrisy of Pillgrim. If the second lieutenant of the Chatauqua had received the bolt from a thunder cloud he could not have been more astonished. He started back, turned pale, and quivered with emotion. "Who?" demanded he, with a tremendous effort to recover his self-possession. "Do you think, Mr. Pillgrim, that I am a little lamb, that can be led round with a silken string?" replied Somers, with energy. "You are my superior officer, and as such I will respect and obey you until--until--" "Until what?"