“Well, Shorty,” he said jovially, placing his big hands upon the boy’s shoulders, “so you’re the lad who wanted to ship as an A. B., eh? Got over it?”
“No, sir. I came down here intending to hide away till after you had sailed. I want to get away from this town, so I do.”
“And you shall. You’ve saved the owners a pretty penny,” he added, touching the packages strewn about the floor, with his foot; “and I reckon they won’t begrudge you your passage. I guess he’s paid his fare, sure enough, ain’t he, boys?”
And the two inferior officers agreed warmly. However, before that first trip was over, Terry had made himself so useful to the Calypso’s commander, that he made many more on the same vessel. In fact, he is still with the good ship, and is probably one of the youngest second mates sailing out of the port of Rivermouth.
WHAT PUNISHMENT BY THE KNOUT MEANS.
We read of crimes and cruelties perpetrated in days long, long gone by, and, with a pitying sigh for the wretched sufferers, we thank Heaven that the blessed light of civilization illuminates the nineteenth century. We do not realize that a government, so-called Christian, even to this day, can wantonly cause such heart-rending sufferings as Russia metes out to Poland.
To be exempt from corporal chastisement is one of the privileges of a Russian nobleman; yet this does not prevent the torture being applied to Polish political prisoners even when they are of noble blood.
The subject, albeit a sad one, is not without a certain interest, particularly when we recall the memory of brave men and braver women who have yielded up a weary life while undergoing this, the most cruel of tortures—the knout.
The knout is a strip of hide, a thing which is steeped in some preparation, and strongly glazed, as it were, with metal filings. By this process it becomes both heavy and excessively hard; but before it hardens care is taken to double down the edges, which are left thin, and in this way a groove runs the length of the thong.
The upper part winds around the hand of the executioner; to the other end a small iron hook is fastened. Falling upon the bare back of the sufferer, the knout comes down on its concave side, of which the edges cut like a knife. The thing thus lies in the flesh.