"I was pressed against my will, sir; and I did my duty in the action with the French frigate which we took. But I wanted to see my mother and blind sister, and I ran, and can't deny it. Now I've been brought back, I'll try to do my duty. That's what I've got to say, sir." "Have you nothing more to say?" asked the captain. "Yes. When I was set free, I did duty on board the cutter, and helped to take the French lugger. The commander says I saved his life; and afterwards, when I was on board the prize, it was through me that the lugger was brought alongside the cutter, and the Frenchmen, who were rising on her crew, were overpowered." "You acted well, then, on both occasions?" said the captain. "Yes; I did what I thought was my duty," answered Dick. "Still, you do not deny that you deserted, and had no intention of returning?" observed Captain Moubray. "I cannot deny it, sir," said Dick. "You know that desertion is always punished by flogging?" said the captain. "Yes," answered Dick; "if it were not for the disgrace I shouldn't mind it." "It is a greater disgrace to desert your ship," said the captain; "but discipline must be maintained, although, considering your gallant conduct on board the cutter, I would gladly overlook your crime." Just as Dick was expecting to hear his sentence pronounced, he was conscious that some one, who had come up, was standing by his side, and glancing round, he saw Ben Rudall. "Beg pardon, Captain Moubray, for speaking, but I makes bold in this here case to come for'ard, as I knows more about the desertion of this lad than any one else," said Ben, giving a pull at his hair. "I put him up to it, as I had been the cause of his being taken, and as I knowed that he is the only son of his father and mother, they would be main glad to have him back again; and I had made up my mind to go too, as I have a wife and children at home waiting for me, but I was taken and brought back." "Then you merit the punishment more than he does," said the captain. "That's just it, sir; and I axes the favour of being flogged instead of him. My hide is tough, and can bear it; but his is young and tender, and ain't been accustomed to hard blows." The captain looked greatly puzzled. He was struck by Ben's magnanimity, if so it could be called, in being ready to sacrifice himself, and was therefore unwilling to punish him; yet the crime of inciting another to desert was greater even than the act of desertion, and he felt, as the man had acknowledged it, that he ought to be punished as a warning to others. The first lieutenant relieved him of his dilemma by observing that, "That man has already been flogged for attempting to desert, and I may venture to think that it would not do to punish him again for the same crime." "You are right, Mr Curling. The discipline of the ship will not suffer, should I overlook this lad's offence in consideration of the gallantry he has displayed."