“Under strong provocation,” the foreman admitted.  “But provocation is not an excuse, judged by the rules of discipline.  The prisoner challenged the officer on duty to fight a duel, at the first opportunity, on shore; and, receiving a contemptuous refusal, struck him on the quarter-deck.  As a matter of course, Mr. Westerfield was tried by court-martial, and was dismissed the service.  Lord Le Basque’s patience was not exhausted yet.  The Merchant Service offered a last chance to the prisoner of retrieving his position, to some extent at least.  He was fit for the sea, and fit for nothing else.  At my lord’s earnest request the owners of the John Jerniman, trading between Liverpool and Rio, took Mr. Westerfield on trial as first mate, and, to his credit be it said, he justified his brother’s faith in him.  In a tempest off the coast of Africa the captain was washed overboard and the first mate succeeded to the command.  His seamanship and courage saved the vessel, under circumstances of danger which paralyzed the efforts of the other officers..  He was confirmed, rightly confirmed, in the command of the ship.  And, so far, we shall certainly not be wrong if we view his character on the favorable side.”

There the foreman paused, to collect his ideas.

Certain members of the assembly—­led by the juryman who wanted his dinner, and supported by his inattentive colleague, then engaged in drawing a ship in a storm, and a captain falling overboard—­proposed the acquittal of the prisoner without further consideration.  But the fretful invalid cried “Stuff!” and the five jurymen who had no opinions of their own, struck by the admirable brevity with which he expressed his sentiments, sang out in chorus, “Hear! hear! hear!” The silent juryman, hitherto overlooked, now attracted attention.  He was a bald-headed person of uncertain age, buttoned up tight in a long frockcoat, and wearing his gloves all through the proceedings.  When the chorus of five cheered, he smiled mysteriously.  Everybody wondered what that smile meant.  The silent juryman kept his opinion to himself.  From that moment he began to exercise a furtive influence over the jury.  Even the foreman looked at him, on resuming the narrative.

“After a certain term of service, gentlemen, during which we learn nothing to his disadvantage, the prisoner’s merits appear to have received their reward.  He was presented with a share in the ship which he commanded, in addition to his regular salary as master.  With these improved prospects he sailed from Liverpool on his last voyage to Brazil; and no one, his wife included, had the faintest suspicion that he left England under circumstances of serious pecuniary embarrassment.  The testimony of his creditors, and of other persons with whom he associated distinctly proves that his leisure hours on shore had been employed in card-playing and in betting on horse races.  After an unusually long run of luck, his good fortune seems to have deserted him.  He