If the crew had been surprised at what they had just witnessed, they were soon to be more so. The two men appeared and, hat in hand, stood at the mast. Higgins carried in one hand a bundle of iron nails and in the other the ax, one side of which was flat like a hammer. Captain Conyngham ordered him to step forward, and he handed the nails and ax to Mr. Jarvis, who stood wonderingly by his side. “Higgins,” asked Captain Conyngham sternly, “do you know what I want these for?” “No, sir.” The man was pale, but over his face there flickered a smile of affected amusement or bravado. “I’ll show you.--McCarthy, step up here.” The two men stood before him. “Now, Higgins,” said Conyngham sternly, “I’ll tell you what I wanted the nails and ax for. I wanted to nail the lies that you are going to tell me.” The man began to protest feebly, and the captain stopped him. “What were you saying just as that cutter came within hailing distance?” “I was saying nothing, sir.” “Lie number one; you were.” The captain changed one of the nails from one hand into the other. “You, McCarthy, what did you say to Higgins?” “I said nothing, sir.” “Lie number two.” The captain looked from one to the other with his piercing eyes, and then, almost without a movement of preparation, his bare fists shot out to left and right, and the men dropped where they stood like knackered beeves. It had all come so suddenly that the crew, at least those who had been watching, were held spellbound in astonishment. Even Mr. Jarvis looked frightened, and gazed at his superior officer, wondering if he had lost his senses. “Here, pick these men up, some of you, and put them on their feet,” ordered Conyngham sternly. Half dazed, the two men were propped against the railing. “What are you doing aboard this vessel?” “Sailing as honest seamen,” responded the Englishman, who had recovered his equilibrium in a measure, and in whose eyes glared a fierce light of mad hatred, as he returned Conyngham’s steadfast look. “Lie number three. But we won’t go on. I’ll tell you what you said. When you saw that we were outpointing that cutter, you said that when she was near enough to hail, you would take your knife and cut away the sheets, and that McCarthy here would let go the jib-halyards, and that you would then----” he paused suddenly. “Open your shirt,” he ordered. The men’s faces were white and terrified. Higgins fumbled weakly at his breast and then, all at once, collapsed forward on the deck. He had fainted dead away. Acting on Conyngham’s orders, Mr. Jarvis bent over the prostrate man and drew forth and displayed, to the astonished eyes of all, a small British Union Jack. The crew fell to murmuring. Captain Conyngham was all smiles again. He waited until Higgins had been revived by a dash of cold water. Then he spoke to the two frightened and now trembling men.