The young officer drew a deep breath, and entered.
A deadly fear had seized him, from the moment he saw the signal of James Walsham, although it seemed impossible to him that his treachery could have been discovered.

The sudden summons at this hour of the night confirmed his fears, and it was with a face almost as pale as death that he entered the cabin.
"Lieutenant Horton," the admiral said, "you are accused of having assisted in the escape of the pilot, who was our prisoner on board this ship.

You are further accused of releasing him with the special purpose that the plans which General Wolfe had laid, to obtain information, might be thwarted." "Who accuses me ?" Richard Horton asked.

"Captain Walsham is my enemy.
He has for years intrigued against me, and sought to do me harm.

He was the companion of smugglers, and was captured by the Thetis, and had the choice of being sent to prison, and tried for his share in the killing of some of the coast guards, or of going before the mast.