All of this, aided by skillful questions, I told as exactly as possible. I told of the mate’s strange manner on finding the bodies; I related, to a breathless quiet, the placing of the bodies in the jolly-boat; and the reading of the burial service over them; I told of the little boat that followed us, like some avenging spirit, carrying by day a small American flag, union down, and at night a white light. I told of having to increase the length of the towing-line as the heat grew greater, and of a fear I had that the rope would separate, or that the mysterious hand that was the author of the misfortunes would cut the line.
I told of the long nights without sleep, while, with our few available men, we tried to work the Ella back to land; of guarding the after house; of a hundred false alarms that set our nerves quivering and our hearts leaping. And I made them feel, I think, the horror of a situation where each man suspected his neighbor, feared and loathed him, and yet stayed close by him because a known danger is better than an unknown horror.
The record of my examination is particularly faulty, McWhirter having allowed personal feeling to interfere with accuracy. Here and there in the margins of his notebook I find unflattering allusions to the prosecuting attorney; and after one question, an impeachment of my motives, to which Mac took violent exception, no answer at all is recorded, and in a furious scrawl is written: “The little whippersnapper! Leslie could smash him between his thumb and finger!”
I found another curious record—a leaf, torn out of the book, and evidently designed to be sent to me, but failing its destination, was as follows: “For Heaven’s sake, don’t look at the girl so much! The newspaper men are on.”
But, to resume my examination. The first questions were not of particular interest. Then:
“Did the prisoner know you had moved to the after house?”
“I do not know. The forecastle hands knew.”
“Tell what you know of the quarrel on July 31 between Captain Richardson and the prisoner.”
“I saw it from a deck window.” I described it in detail.
“Why did you move to the after house?”