“‘I must condemn you to have thirty lashes at the whipping-post,’ said the judge—‘No, twenty lashes—no, considering all the points of the case, ten; or five will do. Five lashes at the whipping-post. This is the lightest sentence that I ever imposed. But he did not know the law; and he was a married man, and he had not seen his wife for nearly three years; I must be merciful in this particular case, and I will not say in this same case how hard the lashes shall be laid on.’
“So the young sailor was whipped, and Mr. Legality said that five lashes would not have scampered a cat.
“Rufus, the wanderer, prepared to go whaling again.
“Now, the captain of the ship had caused a chalk-mark to be drawn across the deck of the ship, and had made a ship law that if any one but an officer of the ship should cross the mark, the person violating the law should be whipped with a cat-o’-nine-tails.
“I am sorry to say that our young sailor should have had a revengeful spirit, but he seems to have shown a disposition not altogether benevolent. He invited Mr. Legality to go on board the ship with him, just as the ship was about to sail. Mr. Legality to atone for his want of charity went, and he had hardly got on board before he stepped over the chalk-line.
“‘Halt, halt!’ said Rufus. ‘We have a law that if any one steps over the chalk-line he must be whipped.’
“‘But I did not know that there was any such a law,’ said Mr. Legality.
“‘But it is the law,’ said Wandering Rufus.
“‘But how could I have known?’ asked Mr. Legality.
“‘How could I have known that there was a law that a man must not kiss his wife on the street on Sunday?’ asked Rufus.