The scene made me feel sick, it was so brutal; yet there was nothing that the rest of us could do to stop it.
Captain Falk was in command of the ship.
I heard a mild laugh that filled me with rage. "That's the way to make 'em take back their talk, captain. Give him a good one," said the mild voice. "He ain't the only one that 'll be better for a sound beating."
There was a scuffle of footsteps, then I heard Bill cry out, "Oh—oh!—oh!"
Suddenly a man broke from the group and fled along the deck.
"Come back here, you scoundrel!" the captain cried with vile oaths; "come back here, or I swear I'll seize you up and lash you to a bloody pulp."
The fugitive now stood in the bow, trembling, and faced those who were approaching him. "Don't," he cried piteously, "I didn't go to do nothing."
"Oh, no, not you!" said the mild voice, followed by a mild laugh. "He didn't do nothing, captain."
"Not he!" Captain Falk muttered. "I'll show him who's captain here."
There was no escape for the unfortunate man. They closed in on him and roughly dragged him from his retreat straight aft to the quarter-deck, and there I heard their brief discussion.