Capt. Ned Blakely—that name will answer as well as any other fictitious5 one (for he was still with the living at last accounts, and may not desire to be famous)—sailed ships out of the harbor of San Francisco for many years. He was a stalwart, warm-hearted, eagle-eyed veteran, who had been a sailor nearly fifty years—a sailor from early boyhood. He was a rough, honest creature, full of pluck, and just as full of hard-headed simplicity6, too. He hated trifling7 conventionalities—“business” was the word, with him. He had all a sailor’s vindictiveness8 against the quips and quirks9 of the law, and steadfastly10 believed that the first and last aim and object of the law and lawyers was to defeat justice.
He sailed for the Chincha Islands in command of a guano ship. He had a fine crew, but his negro mate was his pet—on him he had for years lavished11 his admiration12 and esteem13. It was Capt. Ned’s first voyage to the Chinchas, but his fame had gone before him—the fame of being a man who would fight at the dropping of a handkerchief, when imposed upon, and would stand no nonsense. It was a fame well earned. Arrived in the islands, he found that the staple14 of conversation was the exploits of one Bill Noakes, a bully15, the mate of a trading ship. This man had created a small reign16 of terror there. At nine o’clock at night, Capt. Ned, all alone, was pacing his deck in the starlight. A form ascended17 the side, and approached him. Capt. Ned said:
“Who goes there?”
“I’m Bill Noakes, the best man in the islands.”
“What do you want aboard this ship?”
“I’ve heard of Capt. Ned Blakely, and one of us is a better man than ’tother—I’ll know which, before I go ashore18.”
“You’ve come to the right shop—I’m your man. I’ll learn you to come aboard this ship without an invite.”
He seized Noakes, backed him against the mainmast, pounded his face to a pulp19, and then threw him overboard.
Noakes was not convinced. He returned the next night, got the pulp renewed, and went overboard head first, as before.
He was satisfied.
A week after this, while Noakes was carousing20 with a sailor crowd on shore, at noonday, Capt. Ned’s colored mate came along, and Noakes tried to pick a quarrel with him. The negro evaded21 the trap, and tried to get away. Noakes followed him up; the negro began to run; Noakes fired on him with a revolver and killed him. Half a dozen sea-captains witnessed the whole affair. Noakes retreated to the small after-cabin of his ship, with two other bullies22, and gave out that death would be the portion of any man that intruded23 there. There was no attempt made to follow the villains24; there was no disposition25 to do it, and indeed very little thought of such an enterprise. There were no courts and no officers; there was no government; the islands belonged to Peru, and Peru was far away; she had no official representative on the ground; and neither had any other nation.
However, Capt. Ned was not perplexing his head about such things. They concerned him not. He was boiling with rage and furious for justice. At nine o’clock at night he loaded a double-barreled gun with slugs, fished out a pair of handcuffs, got a ship’s lantern, summoned his quartermaster, and went ashore. He said:
“Do you see that ship there at the dock?”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
“It’s the Venus.”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
“You—you know me.”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
“Very well, then. Take the lantern. Carry it just under your chin. I’ll walk behind you and rest this gun-barrel on your shoulder, p’inting forward—so. Keep your lantern well up so’s I can see things ahead of you good. I’m going to march in on Noakes—and take him—and jug26 the other chaps. If you flinch—well, you know me.”
“Ay-ay, sir.”
In this order they filed aboard softly, arrived at Noakes’s den27, the quartermaster pushed the door open, and the lantern revealed the three desperadoes sitting on the floor. Capt. Ned said:
“I’m Ned Blakely. I’ve got you under fire. Don’t you move without orders—any of you. You two kneel down in the corner; faces to the wall—now. Bill Noakes, put these handcuffs on; now come up close. Quartermaster, fasten ’em. All right. Don’t stir, sir. Quartermaster, put the key in the outside of the door. Now, men, I’m going to lock you two in; and if you try to burst through this door—well, you’ve heard of me. Bill Noakes, fall in ahead, and march. All set. Quartermaster, lock the door.”
Noakes spent the night on board Blakely’s ship, a prisoner under strict guard. Early in the morning Capt. Ned called in all the sea-captains in the harbor and invited them, with nautical28 ceremony, to be present on board his ship at nine o’clock to witness the hanging of Noakes at the yard-arm!
“What! The man has not been tried.”
“Of course he hasn’t. But didn’t he kill the nigger?”
“Certainly he did; but you are not thinking of hanging him without a trial?”
“Trial! What do I want to try him for, if he killed the nigger?”
“Oh, Capt. Ned, this will never do. Think how it will sound.”
“Sound be hanged! Didn’t he kill the nigger?”
“Certainly, certainly, Capt. Ned,—nobody denies that,—but—”
“Then I’m going to hang him, that’s all. Everybody I’ve talked to talks just the same way you do. Everybody says he killed the nigger, everybody knows he killed the nigger, and yet every lubber of you wants him tried for it. I don’t understand such bloody29 foolishness as that. Tried! Mind you, I don’t object to trying him, if it’s got to be done to give satisfaction; and I’ll be there, and chip in and help, too; but put it off till afternoon—put it off till afternoon, for I’ll have my hands middling full till after the burying—”
“Didn’t I say I was going to hang him? I never saw such people as you. What’s the difference? You ask a favor, and then you ain’t satisfied when you get it. Before or after’s all one—you know how the trial will go. He killed the nigger. Say—I must be going. If your mate would like to come to the hanging, fetch him along. I like him.”
There was a stir in the camp. The captains came in a body and pleaded with Capt. Ned not to do this rash thing. They promised that they would create a court composed of captains of the best character; they would empanel a jury; they would conduct everything in a way becoming the serious nature of the business in hand, and give the case an impartial31 hearing and the accused a fair trial. And they said it would be murder, and punishable by the American courts if he persisted and hung the accused on his ship. They pleaded hard. Capt. Ned said:
“Gentlemen, I’m not stubborn and I’m not unreasonable32. I’m always willing to do just as near right as I can. How long will it take?”
“Probably only a little while.”
“And can I take him up the shore and hang him as soon as you are done?”
“If he is proven guilty he shall be hanged without unnecessary delay.”
“If he’s proven guilty. Great Neptune33, ain’t he guilty? This beats my time. Why you all know he’s guilty.”
But at last they satisfied him that they were projecting nothing underhanded. Then he said:
“Well, all right. You go on and try him and I’ll go down and overhaul34 his conscience and prepare him to go—like enough he needs it, and I don’t want to send him off without a show for hereafter.”
This was another obstacle. They finally convinced him that it was necessary to have the accused in court. Then they said they would send a guard to bring him.
“No, sir, I prefer to fetch him myself—he don’t get out of my hands. Besides, I’ve got to go to the ship to get a rope, anyway.”
The court assembled with due ceremony, empaneled a jury, and presently Capt. Ned entered, leading the prisoner with one hand and carrying a Bible and a rope in the other. He seated himself by the side of his captive and told the court to “up anchor and make sail.” Then he turned a searching eye on the jury, and detected Noakes’s friends, the two bullies.
He strode over and said to them confidentially35:
“You’re here to interfere36, you see. Now you vote right, do you hear?—or else there’ll be a double-barreled inquest here when this trial’s off, and your remainders will go home in a couple of baskets.”
The caution was not without fruit. The jury was a unit—the verdict. “Guilty.”
Capt. Ned sprung to his feet and said:
“Come along—you’re my meat now, my lad, anyway. Gentlemen you’ve done yourselves proud. I invite you all to come and see that I do it all straight. Follow me to the canyon37, a mile above here.”
The court informed him that a sheriff had been appointed to do the hanging, and—
Capt. Ned’s patience was at an end. His wrath38 was boundless39. The subject of a sheriff was judiciously40 dropped.
When the crowd arrived at the canyon, Capt. Ned climbed a tree and arranged the halter, then came down and noosed41 his man. He opened his Bible, and laid aside his hat. Selecting a chapter at random42, he read it through, in a deep bass43 voice and with sincere solemnity. Then he said:
“Lad, you are about to go aloft and give an account of yourself; and the lighter44 a man’s manifest is, as far as sin’s concerned, the better for him. Make a clean breast, man, and carry a log with you that’ll bear inspection45. You killed the nigger?”
No reply. A long pause.
The captain read another chapter, pausing, from time to time, to impress the effect. Then he talked an earnest, persuasive46 sermon to him, and ended by repeating the question:
“Did you kill the nigger?”
No reply—other than a malignant47 scowl48. The captain now read the first and second chapters of Genesis, with deep feeling—paused a moment, closed the book reverently49, and said with a perceptible savor50 of satisfaction:
“There. Four chapters. There’s few that would have took the pains with you that I have.”
Then he swung up the condemned51, and made the rope fast; stood by and timed him half an hour with his watch, and then delivered the body to the court. A little after, as he stood contemplating52 the motionless figure, a doubt came into his face; evidently he felt a twinge of conscience—a misgiving—and he said with a sigh:
“Well, p’raps I ought to burnt him, maybe. But I was trying to do for the best.”
When the history of this affair reached California (it was in the “early days”) it made a deal of talk, but did not diminish the captain’s popularity in any degree. It increased it, indeed. California had a population then that “inflicted” justice after a fashion that was simplicity and primitiveness53 itself, and could therefore admire appreciatively when the same fashion was followed elsewhere.
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1
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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2
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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3
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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eschew
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| v.避开，戒绝 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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6
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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7
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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8
vindictiveness
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| 恶毒；怀恨在心 | |
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9
quirks
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| n.奇事，巧合( quirk的名词复数 )；怪癖 | |
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10
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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11
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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13
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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14
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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15
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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16
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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17
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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19
pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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20
carousing
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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21
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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22
bullies
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| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
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23
intruded
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| n.侵入的，推进的v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 )；把…强加于 | |
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24
villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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25
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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26
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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27
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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28
nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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29
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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30
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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31
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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32
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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33
Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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34
overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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35
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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36
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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37
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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38
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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39
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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40
judiciously
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| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
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41
noosed
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| v.绞索，套索( noose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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43
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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44
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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45
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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46
persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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47
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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48
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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49
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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50
savor
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| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
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51
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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52
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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53
primitiveness
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| 原始，原始性 | |
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