"I'll have you know, sir," said Captain Falk, "that I'm master here." "Evidently, sir." "Then what do you mean, sir, by challenging me like that?" "From what I have heard, I judge that the punishment is out of proportion to the offense, even if the steward's yarn was true." "I'll have you know, that I'm the only man aboard this ship that has any judgment," Falk snarled. "Judgment ?" Roger exclaimed; and the twist he gave the word was so funny that some one actually snickered. "Yes, judgment !" Falk roared; and he turned on Roger with all the anger of his mean nature choking his voice. "I'll--I'll beat you, you young upstart, you! I'll beat you in that man's place," he cried, with a string of oaths. "No," said Roger very coolly, "I think you won't." "By heaven, I will!" The two men faced each other like two cocks in the pit at the instant before the battle. There was a deathly silence on deck. Such a scene, as I saw it there, if put on the stage in a theatre, would be a drama in itself without word or action. The sky was bright with stars; the land lay low and dark against the horizon; the sea whispered round the ship and sparkled with golden phosphorescence. Over our heads the masts towered to slender black shafts, which at that lofty height seemed far too frail to support the great network of rigging and spars and close-furled canvas. Dwarfed by the tall masts, by the distances of the sea, and by the vastness of the heavens, the small black figures stood silent on the quarter-deck. But one of those men was bound half-naked to the rigging, and two faced each other in attitudes that by outline alone, for we could discern the features of neither, revealed antagonism and defiance. "No," said Roger once more, very coolly, "I think you won't." As the captain lifted his rope to hit Bill again, Roger stepped forward. The captain looked sharply at him; then with a shrug he said, "Oh, well, the fellow's had enough. Cut him down, cut him down." So they unlashed Bill, and he came forward with his clothes in his arms and one long, raw welt across his back. "Now, what did I say?" he whimpered. "What did I say to make 'em do like that?" What had he said, indeed? Certainly nothing culpable. Some one had twisted his innocent remarks in such a way as to irritate the captain and had carried tales to the cabin. With decent officers such a thing never would have happened. Affairs had run a sad course since Captain Falk had read the burial service over Captain Whidden and Mr. Thomas, both of whom had been strict, fair, honorable gentlemen. There was a sober time in the forecastle that night, and none of us had much to say.