“You did not set the vessel on fire, or try to do it. It was Stout that did it,” argued Raymond.
“But I was in the plot. I agreed to take part in it; and I hold myself to be just as deep in the mire as Bill Stout is in the mud,” added Bark.
“I am glad to see that you are a man about it, and don’t shirk off the blame on the other fellow.”
“Though I did not get up the idea, I am as guilty as Bill; and I will not cast it all upon him.”
“That’s the right thing to say.”
“But what would you do, if you were in my place?”
“Just as I said before. I should return to the Tritonia, and face the music, if I were sent home in a man-of-war, to be tried for my life for the deed.”
“That’s pretty rough medicine.”
“Since I have been in the squadron, I have learned a new morality. I don’t think it would be possible for me to commit a crime, especially such as burning a vessel; but, if I had done it, I should want to be hanged for it as soon as possible. I don’t know that anybody else is like me; but I tell you just how I feel.”
“But, if you were bad enough to do the deed, you could not feel as you do now,” replied Bark, shaking his head.