“True in all things,” said the latter, “in all things, so far as they have been revealed. I admit everything that has been said, but my accuser,” and here he fixed his piercing eyes on his father, “but my accuser has informed you only of the punishment; he has not told you why, when I treated my other captives with such lenity, I practised what he calls cruelties on himself. Perhaps, my lord,” while his lip could be seen to curl with scorn, “perhaps he will tell you that I was only the executioner who inflicted the punishment which one of the most heinous crimes deserved.”
“What do you mean?” inquired the commander.
“Simply,” replied the captain, “that this man is my father. He abandoned me at an age when I was too young to offend, and afterwards refused me bread when I was being famished. In vindication of the violated laws of nature, I, in my turn, abandoned him when he required my aid, and I cast him away from my vessel, when he required its use.”
“Then you are this gentleman’s son? and there are, therefore, family affairs connected with this business?” inquired the commander, with evident surprise, marked on his open and noble face; and, turning to Willmington, he inquired, also, whether he was really his father.
There was no answer.
“Young man,” said the commander, “it was wrong, on your part, to treat your parent in this manner. If what you say is correct, he has treated you unnaturally, but there is One above us to punish such sins, and it is not yours to arrogate the right of taking vengeance, even when you consider yourself injured—recollect,” he said solemnly, “recollect—‘Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.’”
“You speak, my lord,” replied the captain, “as I should expect you to do; but you are scarcely a judge in this matter: you have not had to endure what I had. I can read in you, my lord,—pardon the personality—something which tells me that, if you had found yourself in my place, you would have acted in the same manner.”
In the meantime, a young officer had silently descended the companion-steps, and, hearing the voice of the last speaker, he came quickly forward and gazed in his face, seeming to recognize him.
“Appadocca,” he exclaimed, and eagerly grasped the hand of the captain, “what brings you here? Why you are not the pirate, surely?—it cannot be!”