“As long’s the lamp holds on to burn,
The greatest sinner may return.”
And now the captain fired a pistol in the air, and the black men did their duty.
In a few minutes all was over. The murderers were lowered.
Two sullen plashes were heard as their bodies were thrown into the sea, where they floated a moment, then slowly sank.
The boat was next ordered to cast off. Not a word more was said on either side, and by ten o’clock the cutter had disappeared beneath the eastern horizon.
The mutiny was at an end.
That same forenoon, the bodies of Petersen and the poor fellow who had sunk to death beside the stove, were sewn in hammocks with shot at their feet, and laid aft on a grating.
Few and short were the prayers that were said; but the bodies were committed to the deep. As Antonio spoke the last words the grating was tilted; two solemn booming plashes, and all was over.
Their souls were commended to the God who gave them.
. . . . . .