“Now, Tom Dalton,” he yelled up into the rigging, “it’s ten lashes if you take your punishment like a man.”
“Oh, captain, let me off, please let me off this time,” cried Tom, frantically.
“Come down, I tell you.”
“It will kill me—I can’t stand it.”
Captain Morris coolly consulted his watch.
“For every minute you stay up there I’ll give you an extra cut.”
Amid violent moanings and with streaming eyes, the wretched cabin boy began to slowly descend to the deck.
He shrank back as the captain made a vicious grasp for him, and growled out:
“Take off your jacket and shirt.”
“Oh, captain; dear captain,” shrieked the unhappy Tom, “for mercy’s sake not that; oh, please, please, and I’ll never, never disobey the rules again!”