Most insistently my thoughts were of Carette and those bright early days on Sercq, and black as all else was, those remembrances shone like jewels in my mind.

And when at times I thought of Torode and his stupendous treachery, my heart was like to burst with helpless rage.

I scarcely closed my eyes, and in the morning felt old and weary.
About midday they came for me, and I was content that the end had come.
They led me to the waist of the ship, where the whole company was assembled, and there they stripped me to the waist and bound my wrists to a gun carriage.
It was little relief to me to know that I was to be flogged, for the lash degrades, and breaks a man's spirit even more than his body.

Even if undeserved, the brand remains, and can never be forgotten.

It seemed to me then that I would as lief be shot and have done with it.
The captain eyed me keenly.
"Well," he asked, "you are still of the same mind?
You still will not fight ?" "Not against my own country--not though you flog me to ribbons, monsieur." The cat rested lightly on my back as the man who held it waited for the word.
Then, as I braced myself for the first stroke, which would be the hardest to bear, the captain said quietly to the officer next to him, "Perhaps as well end it at once.