defend my honor and my life to the last ditch against the

blind and senseless regulation which assumed the synonymity

of misfortune and treason.

I would replace the destroyed instruments upon the bridge;

every officer and man should know when we crossed thirty.

But then I should assert the spirit which dominated me, I

should resist arrest, and insist upon bringing my ship back

across the dead line, remaining at my post until we had

reached New York. Then I should make a full report, and

with it a demand upon public opinion that the dead lines be

wiped forever from the seas.

I knew that I was right. I knew that no more loyal officer

wore the uniform of the navy. I knew that I was a good

officer and sailor, and I didn't propose submitting to

degradation and discharge because a lot of old, preglacial

fossils had declared over two hundred years before that no

man should cross thirty.

Even while these thoughts were passing through my mind I was

busy with the details of my duties. I had seen to it that a

sea anchor was rigged, and even now the men had completed

their task, and the Coldwater was swinging around rapidly,

her nose pointing once more into the wind, and the frightful

rolling consequent upon her wallowing in the trough was

happily diminishing.

It was then that Johnson came hurrying to the bridge. One

of his eyes was swollen and already darkening, and his lip

was cut and bleeding. Without even the formality of a

salute, he burst upon me, white with fury.

"Lieutenant Alvarez attacked me!" he cried. "I demand that

he be placed under arrest. I found him in the act of

destroying the reserve instruments, and when I would have

interfered to protect them he fell upon me and beat me. I

demand that you arrest him!"

"You forget yourself, Mr. Johnson," I said. "You are not in

command of the ship. I deplore the action of Lieutenant

Alvarez, but I cannot expunge from my mind the loyalty and

self-sacrificing friendship which has prompted him to his

acts. Were I you, sir, I should profit by the example he