第 十九 章 · 第19章

It was Captain Vere himself who of his own motion communicated the

finding of the court to the prisoner; for that purpose going to the

compartment where he was in custody, and bidding the marine there to

withdraw for the time.

Beyond the communication of the sentence what took place at this

interview was never known. But, in view of the character of the twain

briefly closeted in that state-room, each radically sharing in the rarer

qualities of one nature--so rare, indeed, as to be all but incredible to

average minds, however much cultivated--some conjectures may be

ventured.

It would have been in consonance with the spirit of Captain Vere should

he on this occasion have concealed nothing from the condemned one;

should he indeed have frankly disclosed to him the part he himself had

played in bringing about the decision, at the same time revealing his

actuating motives. On Billy’s side it is not improbable that such a

confession would have been received in much the same spirit that

prompted it. Not without a sort of joy indeed he might have appreciated

the brave opinion of him implied in his captain making such a confidant

of him. Nor as to the sentence itself could he have been insensible that

it was imparted to him as to one not afraid to die. Even more may have

been. Captain Vere in the end may have developed the passion sometimes

latent under an exterior stoical or indifferent. He was old enough to

have been Billy’s father. The austere devotee of military duty, letting

himself melt back into what remains primeval in our formalised humanity,

may in the end have caught Billy to his heart, even as Abraham may have

caught young Isaac on the brink of resolutely offering him up in

obedience to the exacting behest. But there is no telling the

sacrament--seldom if in any case revealed to the gadding world wherever

under circumstances at all akin to those here attempted to be set

forth--two of great Nature’s nobler order embrace. There is privacy at

the time, inviolable to the survivor, and holy oblivion, the sequel to

each diviner magnanimity, providentially covers all at last.

The first to encounter Captain Vere in the act of leaving the

compartment was the senior lieutenant. The face he beheld, for the

moment one expressive of the agony of the strong, was to that officer,

though a man of fifty, a startling revelation. That the condemned one

suffered less than he who mainly had effected the condemnation, was

apparently indicated by the former’s exclamation in the scene soon

perforce to be touched upon.

Of a series of incidents within a brief term rapidly following each

other, the adequate narration may take up a term less brief, especially

if explanation or comment here and there seem requisite to the better

understanding of such incidents. Between the entrance into the cabin of

him who never left it alive, and him who when he did leave it left it as

one condemned to die; between this and the closeted interview just

given, less than an hour and a half had elapsed. It was an interval long

enough, however, to awaken speculations among no few of the ship’s

company as to what it was that could be detaining in the cabin the

master-at-arms and the sailor, for it was rumoured that both of them had

been seen to enter it, and neither of them had been seen to emerge. This

rumour had got abroad upon the gun-decks and in the tops; the people of

a great warship being in one respect like villagers, taking microscopic

note of every untoward movement or non-movement going on. When therefore

in weather not at all tempestuous all hands were called in the second

dog-watch, a summons under such circumstances not usual in those hours,

the crew were not wholly unprepared for some announcement extraordinary,

one having connection, too, with the continued absence of the two men

from their wonted haunts.

There was a moderate sea at the time; and the moon newly risen, and near

to being at its full, silvered the white spar-deck wherever not blotted

by the clear-cut shadows horizontally thrown of fixtures and moving men.

On either side the quarter-deck the marine guard under arms was drawn

up; and Captain Vere, standing in his place surrounded by all the

ward-room officers, addressed his men. In so doing his manner showed

neither more nor less than that properly pertaining to his supreme

position aboard his own ship. In clear terms and concise he told them

what had taken place in the cabin; that the master-at-arms was dead;

that he who had killed him had been already tried by a summary court and

condemned to death; and that the execution would take place in the early

morning watch. The word _mutiny_ was not named in what he said. He

refrained, too, from making the occasion an opportunity for any

preachment as to the maintenance of discipline, thinking, perhaps, that

under existing circumstances in the Navy the consequence of violating

discipline should be made to speak for itself.

Their captain’s announcement was listened to by the throng of standing

sailors in a dumbness like that of a seated congregation of believers in

Hell listening to their clergyman’s announcement of his Calvinistic

text.[5]

At the close, however, a confused murmur went up. It began to wax all

but instantly, then at a sign, was pierced and suppressed by shrill

whistles of the boatswain and his mates piping, ‘Down one watch.’[6]

To be prepared for burial Claggart’s body was delivered to certain petty

officers of his mess. And here, not to clog the sequel with lateral

matters, it may be added that at a suitable hour, the master-at-arms was

committed to the sea with every funeral honour properly belonging to his

naval grade.

In this proceeding, as in every public one growing out of the tragedy,

strict adherence to usage was observed. Nor in any point could it have

been at all deviated from, either with respect to Claggart or Billy

Budd, without begetting undesirable speculations in the ship’s company,

sailors, and more particularly man-of-war’s men, being of all men the

greatest sticklers for usage.

For similar cause all communication between Captain Vere and the

condemned one ended with the closeted interview already given, the

latter being now surrendered to the ordinary routine preliminary to the

end. This transfer under guard from the captain’s quarters was effected

without unusual precautions--at least no visible ones.

If possible, not to let the men so much as surmise that their officers

anticipate aught amiss from them, is the tacit rule in a military ship.

And the more that some sort of trouble should really be apprehended, the

more do the officers keep that apprehension to themselves; though not

the less unostentatious vigilance may be augmented.

In the present instance the sentry placed over the prisoner had strict

orders to let no one have communication with him but the chaplain. And

certain unobtrusive measures were taken absolutely to ensure this point.

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Footnote 5:

Melville’s MS. contains at this point the words ‘Jonathan Edwards’ in

brackets. Clearly Melville had in mind the great New England Calvinist

preacher and theologian when he was writing this sentence.

Footnote 6:

There is an author’s note in the margin of the MS. reading:--_Another

order to be given here in place of this one._

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