well, not a nice sort of name. It referred to his
mother. When I was a boy it was our boys code
to fight like little demons should such an insult be
given our mothers.; and many men have died in my
part of the world for calling other men this name.

However, the lieutenant called the sailor this
name. At that moment it chanced the sailor had
an iron lever or bar in his hands. He promptly
struck the lieutenant over the head with it, knock
ing him out of the rigging and overboard.

And then, in the man s own words: " I saw what
I had done. I knew the Regulations, and I said
to myself, It s all up with you, Jack, my boy; so
here goes. An I jumped over after him, my mind
made up to drown us both. An I d ha done it,
too, only the pinnace from the flagship was just
comin alongside. Up we came to the top, me
a hold of him an punchin him. This was what
settled for me. If I hadn t ben strikin him, I could
have claimed that, seem what I had done, I jumped
over to save him."

Then came the court-martial, or whatever name
a sea trial goes by. He recited his sentence, word
for word, as though memorized and one over in
bitterness many times. And here it is, for the
sake of discipline and respect to officers not always
gentlemen, the punishment of a man who was
guilty of manhood. To be reduced to the rank of

[[70]]

p069 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p070w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p071

v?