"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. At this moment I would
have given worlds for the power to help the poor fellow; but it
was all in vain. The captain stood on the quarter-deck, bare-headed,
his eyes flashing with rage, and his face as red as blood, swinging
the rope, and calling out to his officers, "Drag him aft! - Lay hold
of him! I'll sweeten him!" etc., etc. The mate now went forward
and told John quietly to go aft; and he, seeing resistance in vain,
threw the blackguard third mate from him; said he would go aft
of himself; that they should not drag him; and went up to the
gangway and held out his hands; but as soon as the captain began
to make him fast, the indignity was too much, and he began to
resist; but the mate and Russell holding him, he was soon seized
up. When he was made fast, he turned to the captain, who stood
turning up his sleeves and getting ready for the blow, and asked
him what he was to be flogged for. "Have I ever refused my duty,
sir? Have you ever known me to hang back, or to be insolent, or
not to know my work?"
"No," said the captain, "it is not that that I flog you for; I flog
you for your interference - for asking questions."
"Can't a man ask a question here without being flogged?"
"No," shouted the captain; "nobody shall open his mouth aboard
this vessel, but myself;" and began laying the blows upon his back,
swinging half round between each blow, to give it full effect.
As he went on, his passion increased, and he danced about the deck,
calling out as he swung the rope, - "If you want to know what I
flog you for, I'll tell you. It's because I like to do it! - because
I like to do it! - It suits me! That's what I do it for!"
The man writhed under the pain, until he could endure it no
longer, when he called out, with an exclamation more common
among foreigners than with us - "Oh, Jesus Christ! Oh, Jesus
Christ!"
"Don't call on Jesus Christ," shouted the captain; "he can't help
you.
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