Charlie Codmans Cruise 26

Charlie Codmans Cruise 26

Charlie came forward.

 

"Boy," said Captain Brace, sternly, "you were guilty of insolence to me

this morning. This shall never go unpunished while I am in command of

a vessel. As to the ring, you may or may not have stolen it. It rests

between you and Antonio. As it cannot be proved of either, neither will

be punished on this account."

 

Antonio's sallow face lighted up with joy at this unexpected escape, a

joy which was not reflected on the faces of the crew.

 

"It is for insolence, therefore, and not on account of theft," pursued

the captain, "that I sentence you, Jack Randall, to a dozen lashes on

the bare back. Off with your jacket!"

 

Charlie was a brave boy, but the prospect of this ignominious

punishment caused his check to pale and his voice to tremble, as he

exclaimed, "Captain Brace, if I have been guilty of insolence or want

of proper respect to you, it was not intentional. Do not compel me to

submit to this disgraceful punishment."

 

There was a movement of sympathy among the crew, and more than one

heart softened at the sight of Charlie's manly front, though his lips

quivered, and pride alone kept back the tears from his eyes. Bill

Sturdy started, but checked himself, to hear what the captain would say

in response.

 

"It is too late," he said, coldly. "You should have thought of all that

before you indulged in insolence."

 

"But----"

 

"It is too late, I say," roared the captain, irritated. "Strip, you

young rascal, or you shall have some help about it, and that of a rough

kind."

 

It seemed as if all chance of escape was over for poor Charlie. But at

that moment Bill Sturdy pressed forward, and, hitching up his trousers,

as he was wont to do preparatory to speaking, said, in a distinct tone

of voice, "Captain Brace."

 

"Well?" said the captain. "What have you to say?"

 

"I should like to make a proposal to you, sir."

 

"A proposal," repeated the captain, mystified. "What am I to understand

by that?"

 

"It's just this, Captain Brace. You're the captain of this vessel, and

you've got a right to flog that boy, I suppose, according to the law.

 

"Of course I have," said the captain, fiercely. "Do you presume to

question that right?"

 

"I don't think proper to question it just now," said Bill; "but,

Captain Brace, just look at that boy. Look at his bright, honest face,

and you can't have the heart to abuse him."

 

"Abuse him!" exclaimed the captain, stamping on the deck in his fury;

"say that again, and I'll have you flogged with him."

 

"It was something of that kind that I was going to propose," said Bill

Sturdy.

 

Captain Brace stared at him in astonishment, a feeling which was shared

by the crew.

 

"If you want to be flogged," said the captain, grimly, "we will try to

accommodate you."

 

"It is in this way that I mean," exclaimed Bill. "I've taken a liking

to that lad, and I've promised him I'll stand his friend. Now, Captain

Brace, if somebody must be flogged, spare him, and flog me in his

place."

 

Surprise was depicted on every face, and the sunburnt and rough-visaged

men about him felt an involuntary thrill of respect and admiration,

as Sturdy manfully came forward and offered his own back to the

punishment, which is properly regarded as an insult to manhood, though

the disgrace attaches not to the one who endures, but to the one who

inflicts it.

 

Charlie was the first to speak. His generous heart revolted at the idea

of escaping punishment at the expense of his friend.

 

"No, Bill Sturdy," said he, manfully, "I don't want you to suffer in my

place. It'll be hard to bear it," and his lip quivered; "but it would

be weak and cowardly for me to let anybody else suffer in my place."

 

Charlie began to take off his jacket.

 

There was a murmuring among the crew, testifying to the excitement

which they felt.

 

"Put on your jacket, my lad," said Bill. "I'm older and tougher than

you, and I can bear it better."

 

And the stout seaman pulled off his shirt, and displayed his brawny

shoulders, and a chest whose breadth and depth betokened a strength

which could not be styled less than Herculean.

 

Antonio looked on, his eye blazing with vindictive joy. Whichever was

flogged, his satisfaction would be equal.

 

"Hark you!" exclaimed Captain Brace, interfering at this juncture. "I

think that I shall choose to have a voice in this matter. So you wish,"

turning to Sturdy, "to relieve this boy of his punishment, do you?"

 

"I do," said the old seaman.

 

"I don't want him to," interrupted Charlie. "It is mine, and I will

bear it."

 

"It seems the parties are not agreed," said the captain, sardonically.

 

"Spare him," said Bill Sturdy, his eyes resting affectionately on

Charlie. "He is so young."

 

"Perhaps the best way in which I can please you both is to divide the

punishment between you. I had sentenced this lad to receive twelve

lashes. Since you wish to do him a service, you shall receive six, and

he the other six."

 

"I do not consent," said Sturdy, comprehending the captain's purpose to

humiliate both. "If his back is to receive a single lash, my offer will

not save him from the disgrace, and that is worse than the pain."

 

At this juncture the mate whispered something in the captain's ear.

 

The face of the latter lighted up with satisfaction, and his next words

revealed the nature of the mate's suggestion.

 

"I consent to the substitution," he said, and then paused.

 

Bill Sturdy's face glowed with generous satisfaction, and with heroic

forgetfulness of self, he began to strip for punishment.

 

A moment, and his back, broad and ample, was bared and the thick,

corded muscles could be seen.

 

"Antonio, come forward," said Captain Brace.

 

Antonio advanced amid the general surprise of the crew, and somewhat to

his own, and stood still, awaiting orders.

 

"Now," said Captain Brace, his tone showing his malignant satisfaction.

"I appoint you as my deputy to administer twelve lashes to this man;

mind that you don't spare him."

 

Antonio did not need this injunction. His eyes were full of fiendish

triumph, as he seized the instrument of torture, and flourished it

above his head.

 

As for Bill Sturdy, when he knew that Antonio was to be employed to

inflict punishment upon him, this refinement of torture shook his

resolution for a moment. It was, indeed, the bitterest drop in the cup.

But not for an instant did his resolution falter. He would save Charlie

at all hazards. He quickly recovered himself, and said, in a firm

voice, "I am ready."

 

Instantly the lash was whirled aloft, and buried itself in his flesh.

 

There was a quiver, and that was all.

 

One--two--three--four--

 

In fast succession the blows fall upon his flesh, he meanwhile standing

firmly braced, though his cheek was paler than its wont.

 

Charlie's heart sickened, and he closed his eyes to shut out the

fearful spectacle.

 

As for Antonio, he seemed to revel in the task which had been assigned

him. His eyes fairly danced with baleful light, and he seemed almost

beside himself. It was this, perhaps, that led him to exceed by one

the strokes which he had been ordered to administer.

 

A moment after, and the lash was wrested from him by Bill Sturdy, who

threw him to the deck, with one powerful grasp tore the covering from

his back, and buried the lash which had scarred his own back in the

flesh of his late executioner who with face distorted with fright and

pain roared for mercy.

 

"That is to pay for the blow you struck on your own account, you

scoundrel," exclaimed Sturdy. "And now," as the lash descended once

more with prodigious force, and the victim fairly writhed under it,

"you are one in my debt."

 

 

 

 

XXVIII.

 

TWO CONFERENCES.

 

 

So strongly were the sympathies of the crew with Sturdy, more

especially since he had shown himself capable of such disinterested and

heroic self-sacrifice, and so decidedly were their feelings enlisted

against Antonio, who acted like a fiend rather than a man in the

execution of the welcome duty assigned him by the captain, that this

sudden turning of the tables, the summary revenge taken by Bill Sturdy

in return for the additional blow Antonio had inflicted, was greeted

with a triumphant shout from the sailors, which seemed to spring from

them spontaneously.

 

Captain Brace bit his lip, and Randall's face darkened with rage. They

felt that the humiliation which they had intended for Bill Sturdy had

recoiled upon the head of their own agent.