Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XII. A CAPE-TOWN EXECUTION. The light we see is burning in my hall. How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world! Merchant Of Venice. llais enfin que voulez-vous? C'est une mode de retribution propre a ce pays lii! La Vie De Napoleon. My head ached so severely, in consequence of the rough usage I had received at the hands of Stubbs, that I was fain to retire below for quiet. On reflecting over the affair of the preceding night, though I felt, upon the whole, satisfied with myself for the part I had taken; 1 was, at the same time, conscious that, however good my intentions, and however justifiable on the score of humanity, I had certainly, to say the least of it, been guilty of a very great impropriety; and I knew that, if detected, I would be justly liable to severe punishment. It is true, that from my knowledge of Captain Morley’s character, I thought it probable that he himself was not altogether dissatisfied that the unfortunate man should have escaped; yet still the circumstances were such as demanded investigation; and I knew that, if the culprit were discovered, justice would be sternly administered. I did not wish that what I had done were undone; on the contrary, I felt that, under similar circumstances, I would have acted in the same manner again; but still, I could not divest myself of the anxiety that ever attends conscious guilt, or prevent myself from wishing that the affair was safely over. I was roused from my reverie by the sound of the boatswain’s pipe calling all hands on deck. I jumped hastily from my seat; and, with a beating heart, obeyed the summons. Captain Morley was standing on the quarterdeck, surrounded by his officers; the rest of the crew occupied a place a little forward. I t…