“In war-time on the field or in the fleet, a mortal punishment decreed by a drum-head court — on the field sometimes decreed by but a nod from the General — follows without delay on the heel of conviction without appeal.”

Source: Billy Budd, the Sailor (1891), Ch. 21

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Herman Melville photo
Herman Melville 144
American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet 1818–1891

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