The man who had been alluded to as Bloody Bill was seated near me,
and I could not help wondering at the moody silence he maintained
among his comrades. He did indeed reply to their questions in a
careless, off-hand tone, but he never volunteered a remark. The
only difference between him and the others was his taciturnity and
his size, for he was nearly, if not quite, as large a man as the
captain.

During the remainder of the afternoon I was left to my own
reflections, which were anything but agreeable, for I could not
banish from my mind the threat about the thumb-screws, of the
nature and use of which I had a vague but terrible conception. I
was still meditating on my unhappy fate when, just after night-
fall, one of the watch on deck called down the hatchway, -

"Hallo there! one o' you, tumble up and light the cabin lamp, and
send that boy aft to the captain - sharp!"

"Now then, do you hear, youngster? the captain wants you. Look
alive," said Bloody Bill, raising his huge frame from the locker on
which he had been asleep for the last two hours. He sprang up the
ladder and I instantly followed him, and, going aft, was shown into
the cabin by one of the men, who closed the door after me.

A small silver lamp which hung from a beam threw a dim soft light
over the cabin, which was a small apartment, and comfortably but
plainly finished. Seated on a camp-stool at the table, and busily
engaged in examining a chart of the Pacific, was the captain, who
looked up as I entered, and, in a quiet voice, bade me be seated,
while he threw down his pencil, and, rising from the table,