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--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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