And Then There Were (Beside The
Captain) Three Officers, Steward, Agent And Clerk.
But beside
the numbers, what is there for sailors to do?
If they resist, it is
mutiny; and if they succeed, and take the vessel, it is piracy.
If they ever yield again, their punishment must come; and if they
do not yield, they are pirates for life. If a sailor resist his
commander, he resists the law, and piracy or submission are his
only alternatives. Bad as it was, it must be borne. It is what
a sailor ships for. Swinging the rope over his head, and bending
his body so as to give it full force, the captain brought it down
upon the poor fellow's back. Once, twice - six times. "Will you
ever give me any more of your jaw?" The man writhed with pain,
but said not a word. Three times more. This was too much, and he
muttered something which I could not hear; this brought as many
more as the man could stand; when the captain ordered him to be
cut down, and to go forward.
"Now for you," said the captain, making up to John and taking
his irons off. As soon as he was loose, he ran forward to the
forecastle. "Bring that man aft," shouted the captain. The second
mate, who had been a shipmate of John's, stood still in the waist,
and the mate walked slowly forward; but our third officer, anxious
to show his zeal, sprang forward over the windlass, and laid hold
of John; but he soon threw him from him.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 152 of 618
Words from 41623 to 41887
of 170236
