Caine Mutiny, The - Herman Wouk [235]
“Well, he stayed in the wheelhouse. Several times he tried to resume command.”
“In an orderly, sensible way, or in a wild, raving way?”
“The captain was never wild or raving, either before or after being relieved. There are other forms of mental illness.”
“Tell us about some others, Mr. Keith.” Challee’s tone was coarsely sarcastic.
“Well, little as I know about psychiatry, I do know-well, for instance, extreme depression and vagueness, and divorcement from reality, and inaccessibility to reason-things like that-” Willie felt that he was stumbling badly. “Besides, I never said Captain Queeg issued rational orders that morning. They were rational only in so far as they were phrased in correct English. They showed no awareness of reality.”
“In your expert opinion, as ship handler and psychiatrist, that is? Very well. Are you aware that Captain Queeg has been pronounced perfectly rational by professional psychiatrists?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think these psychiatrists are also mentally ill, Lieutenant Keith?”
“They weren’t on the bridge of the Caine during the typhoon.”
“Were you a loyal officer?”
“I think I was.”
“Were you wholeheartedly behind the captain, or antagonistic to him, at all times prior to 18 December?”
Willie knew Queeg had appeared on the first day, but he had no idea of what the testimony had been. He calculated his answer carefully. “I was antagonistic to Captain Queeg at certain isolated times. Otherwise I maintained a loyal and respectful attitude.”
“At what isolated times were you antagonistic?”
“Well, it was usually the same basic trouble. When Captain Queeg oppressed or maltreated the men I opposed him. Not very successfully.”
“When did the captain ever maltreat the men?”
“Well, I don’t know where to begin. Well, first he systematically persecuted Gunner’s Mate Second Class Stilwell.”
“In what way?”
“First he restricted him to the ship for six months for reading on watch. He refused to grant him leave in the States when there was a grave crisis in Stilwell’s family life. Maryk gave Stilwell a seventy-two-hour emergency leave and he returned a few hours over leave. And for all that the captain gave Stilwell a summary court.”
“Wasn’t Stilwell tried for sending a fraudulent telegram?”
“Yes, and acquitted.”
“But the summary court was for fraud, not merely for being AOL?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, I spoke hastily.”
“Take your time and be accurate. Do you think reading on watch in wartime is a negligible offense?”
“I don’t think it warrants six months’ restriction.”
“Are you qualified to pass judgment on matters of naval discipline?”
“I’m a human being. In Stilwell’s circumstances, the restriction was inhuman.”
Challee paused for a moment. “You say Maryk gave Stilwell a pass. Did Maryk know that the captain had denied leave to Stilwell?”
“Yes.”
“Are you testifying, Mr. Keith,” the judge advocate said, with the air of having stumbled on something unexpected and good, “that Maryk, as far back as December ’43, deliberately violated his captain’s orders?”
Willie became rattled. It hadn’t occurred to him that he would be disclosing this injurious fact for the first time. “Well, I mean it was my fault actually. I begged him to. I was morale officer, and I thought the man’s morale-in fact, I think his present mental collapse is due to the captain’s persecution-”
Challee turned to Blakely. “I ask the court to warn this witness against answering with immaterial opinions.”
“Stick to facts, Mr. Keith,” growled Blakely. Willie shifted in his chair, and felt his clothes all clammy inside. Challee said, “We now have your testimony, Mr. Keith, that you and Maryk and Stilwell connived to circumvent an express order of your commanding officer, a whole year before the typhoon of 18 December-”
“I would do it again, given the same circumstances.”
“Do you believe loyalty consists in obeying only such orders as you approve of, or all orders?”
“All orders, except irrational persecution.”
“Do you think there is no recourse in the Navy against what you think is irrational persecution,