"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?"