“Do you see that ship there at the dock?”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
“It’s the Venus.”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
“You–you know me.”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
“Very well, then. Take the lantern. Carry it just under your chin.
I’ll walk behind you and rest this gun-barrel on your shoulder, p’inting
forward–so. Keep your lantern well up so’s I can see things ahead of
you good. I’m going to march in on Noakes–and take him–and jug the
other chaps. If you flinch–well, you know me.”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
In this order they filed aboard softly, arrived at Noakes’s den, the
quartermaster pushed the door open, and the lantern revealed the three
desperadoes sitting on the floor. Capt. Ned said:
“I’m Ned Blakely. I’ve got you under fire. Don’t you move without
orders–any of you. You two kneel down in the corner; faces to the wall
–now. Bill Noakes, put these handcuffs on; now come up close.
Quartermaster, fasten ’em. All right. Don’t stir, sir. Quartermaster,
put the key in the outside of the door. Now, men, I’m going to lock you
two in; and if you try to burst through this door–well, you’ve heard of
me. Bill Noakes, fall in ahead, and march. All set. Quartermaster,
lock the door.”
Noakes spent the night on board Blakely’s ship, a prisoner under strict
guard. Early in the morning Capt. Ned called in all the sea-captains in
the harbor and invited them, with nautical ceremony, to be present on
board his ship at nine o’clock to witness the hanging of Noakes at the
yard-arm!
“What! The man has not been tried.”
“Of course he hasn’t. But didn’t he kill the nigger?”
“Certainly he did; but you are not thinking of hanging him without a
trial?”
“Trial! What do I want to try him for, if he killed the nigger?”
“Oh, Capt. Ned, this will never do. Think how it will sound.”
“Sound be hanged! Didn’t he kill the nigger?”
“Certainly, certainly, Capt. Ned,–nobody denies that,–but–”
“Then I’m going to hang him, that’s all. Everybody I’ve talked to talks
just the same way you do. Everybody says he killed the nigger, everybody
knows he killed the nigger, and yet every lubber of you wants him tried
for it. I don’t understand such bloody foolishness as that. Tried!
Mind you, I don’t object to trying him, if it’s got to be done to give
satisfaction; and I’ll be there, and chip in and help, too; but put it
off till afternoon–put it off till afternoon, for I’ll have my hands
middling full till after the burying–”
“Why, what do you mean? Are you going to hang him any how–and try him
afterward?”
“Didn’t I say I was going to hang him? I never saw such people as you.
What’s the difference? You ask a favor, and then you ain’t satisfied
when you get it. Before or after’s all one–you know how the trial will
go. He killed the nigger. Say–I must be going. If your mate would
like to come to the hanging, fetch him along. I like him.”
There was a stir in the camp. The captains came in a body and pleaded
with Capt. Ned not to do this rash thing. They promised that they would
create a court composed of captains of the best character; they would
empanel a jury; they would conduct everything in a way becoming the
serious nature of the business in hand, and give the case an impartial
hearing and the accused a fair trial. And they said it would be murder,
and punishable by the American courts if he persisted and hung the
accused on his ship. They pleaded hard. Capt. Ned said:
“Gentlemen, I’m not stubborn and I’m not unreasonable. I’m always
willing to do just as near right as I can. How long will it take?”
“Probably only a little while.”
“And can I take him up the shore and hang him as soon as you are done?”
“If he is proven guilty he shall be hanged without unnecessary delay.”
“If he’s proven guilty. Great Neptune, ain’t he guilty? This beats my
time. Why you all know he’s guilty.”
But at last they satisfied him that they were projecting nothing
underhanded. Then he said: