"That is no excuse for your conduct," replied Captain Miles; "in my opinion it rather puts it in a worse light. I have nothing further to add, save that I deeply regret ever having promoted you from your station forwards. You are a good sailor, I'll say that for you, but you haven't got the sort of stuff in you that officers are made of! The only thing I can now do, to atone for my error of judgment in mistaking my man, is to send you back again to your old place in the fo'c's'le, where I think you'll find yourself far more at home than you were on the poop. Davis, you are no longer second mate of the _Josephine_! I disrate you on account of your unfitness for the post, and you will now return to your former rating, as I have restored your name to the list of the crew. You will be in Mr Marline's watch, and I hope you'll do your duty as well as you used before I brought you aft." He did not say any more; and Davis, without answering a single word, slunk forwards towards the forecastle, anxious, apparently, to hide himself from observation. Although he had tried to brave it out when the captain first began to speak to him, even his hardened nature had to succumb before the contemptuous looks of the men he had so long bullied, the more especially as they now openly displayed their joy at his abasement. Thus ended the first act of the little drama; and I then noticed that Captain Miles turned to Mr Marline, with whom he exchanged a short whispered conversation. After this he advanced again to the break of the poop, and hailed for a second time the lower deck. "Jackson!" he called out. "Aye, aye, sir!" instantly responded the stalwart young Cornishman, coming out from amidst the others who had gathered in a cluster in the waist to watch the progress of the row between the captain and Davis. Jackson quite overtopped the rest of the crew by a foot; and, as he walked up to the foot of the poop-ladder, with his fine head thrown well back on his broad shoulders, he seemed afraid of looking no man in the face--presenting a marked contrast to his late antagonist, whom he passed on his way aft.