In The Midst Of This Mutinous Uproar, The Alarmed Consul Stood Fast By
The Scuttle.
His tactics had been decided upon beforehand; indeed,
they must have been concerted ashore, between him and the captain;
for all he said, as he now hurried below, was, "Go forward, men; I'm
through with you:
You should have mentioned these matters before: my
arrangements are concluded: go forward, I say; I've nothing more to
say to you." And, drawing over the slide of the scuttle, he
disappeared. Upon the very point of following him down, the attention
of the exasperated seamen was called off to a party who had just then
taken the recreant Bungs in hand. Amid a shower of kicks and cuffs,
the traitor was borne along to the forecastle, where - I forbear to
relate what followed.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CONSUL'S DEPARTURE
DURING THE scenes just described, Doctor Johnson was engaged in
examining the sick, of whom, as it turned out, all but two were to
remain in the ship. He had evidently received his cue from Wilson.
One of the last called below into the cabin, just as the quarter-deck
gathering dispersed, I came on deck quite incensed. My lameness,
which, to tell the truth, was now much better, was put down as, in a
great measure, affected; and my name was on the list of those who
would be fit for any duty in a day or two. This was enough. As for
Doctor Long Ghost, the shore physician, instead of extending to him
any professional sympathy, had treated him very cavalierly.
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