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"The fact would be a deuced unpleasant point for young Shackford to run against," said Mr. Ward. "Exactly." "If Mr. Lemuel Shackford," remarked Coroner Whidden, softly joining the conversation to which he had been listening in his timorous, apologetic manner, "had chanced, in the course of his early sea-faring days, to form any ties of an unhappy complexion" "Complexion is good," murmured Mr.
But fortune had played into his hands, and he now was our lawful master, resistance to whom could be construed as mutiny and punished in any court in the land. Never, while Captain Whidden commanded the ship, would the steward and the carpenter have deserted their work and have hidden themselves away in the cook's galley.
To all that I had gathered from Bill Hayden I added what I had learned by my own observations, and it seemed to interest them, although for my own part I doubted whether it was of much account. "Has any one approached you directly about these things?" Captain Whidden asked when I was through. "No, sir."
He welcomed us with a few thoughtful words and, by a motion of his hand, sent us before him into the room where he had been sitting. "And so," said Captain Whidden, when we had explained our errand, "I am to have this young man aboard my ship." "If you will, sir," I cried eagerly, yet anxiously, too, for he did not seem nearly so well pleased as I had expected.
One ball had hit the scuttle-butt and had splashed the water fifteen feet in every direction. Another had splintered the cross jack-yard. Suddenly, in the brief silence that followed the two thunderous reports, a single pistol-shot rang out sharply and I saw Captain Whidden spin round and fall.
In all the days since we had lost sight of land, we had seen but one other sail, which had appeared only to disappear again beyond the horizon. It seemed probable, however, that we should speak this second vessel, a brig whose course crossed our own. Captain Whidden came on deck and assumed command, and the men below, getting wind of the excitement, trooped up and lined the bulwarks forward.
Craggie, the postmaster, who was supposed to have a great political future, Mr. Pinkham, Lawyer Perkins, Mr. Whidden, and other respectable persons. The room was at all times in some sense private, with a separate entrance from the street, though another door, which usually stood open, connected it with the main salon.
Our interest, which was already considerable, became even keener when the stranger hove out a signal of distress. We took in all studding-sails and topgallantsails fore and aft, and lay by for her about an hour after we first had sighted her. Over the water, when we were within hailing distance, came the cry: "Ship ahoy!" Captain Whidden held the speaking trumpet. "Hullo!"
When it was done, he spread his great hands on the table and shot question after question, first at one of us, then at the other, indicating by his glance which he wished to answer him. "When first did you suspect Falk? What proof had you? Did Captain Whidden know anything from the start? How do you know that Falk was laying for Mr. Thomas? Do you know the penalty for mutiny?
I was merely supposing" "The law never supposes, sir!" This threw Mr. Whidden into great mental confusion. As coroner was he not an integral part of the law, and when, in his official character, he supposed anything was not that a legal supposition? But was he in his official character now, sitting with a glass of lemonade at his elbow in the reading-room of the Stillwater hotel?