assembled, and there they stripped me to the waist and bound my wrists to a
gun carriage.

It was little relief to me to know that I was to be flogged, for the lash
degrades, and breaks a man's spirit even more than his body. Even if
undeserved, the brand remains, and can never be forgotten. It seemed to me
then that I would as lief be shot and have done with it.

The captain eyed me keenly.

"Well," he asked, "you are still of the same mind? You still will not
fight?"

"Not against my own country--not though you flog me to ribbons, monsieur."

The cat rested lightly on my back as the man who held it waited for the
word.

Then, as I braced myself for the first stroke, which would be the hardest
to bear, the captain said quietly to the officer next to him, "Perhaps as
well end it at once. Send a file of marines--" and they walked a few steps
beyond my hearing, for the blood belled in my ears and blurred my eyes so
that my last sight of earth was like to be a dim one.

"Cast him loose and bandage his eyes," said the captain, and they set me
standing against the side of the ship and tied a white cloth over my eyes.

I heard clearly enough now and with a quickened sense. I heard them range
the men opposite to me--I hard the tiny clicking of the rings on the
muskets as the men handled them--the breathing of those who looked on--the