You have
always been treated like a gentleman; but should you find yourself
treated otherwise, you have too good blood in your veins not to speak--I
am sure of that. I've seen officers insulted and irritated, till no
angel could put up with the treatment--and then for an unguarded word,
which they would have been _swabs_ not to have made use of, sent out of
the service to the devil."
"But you forget, Swinburne, that the articles of war are made for the
captain as well as for everybody else in the ship."
"I know that; but still, at court-martials captains make a great
distinction between what a superior says to an inferior, and what an
inferior says to a superior."
"True," replied I, quoting Shakespeare:
"'That's in the captain but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is
rank blasphemy.'"
"Exactly my meaning--I rather think," said Swinburne, "if a captain
calls you no gentleman, you mus'n't say the same to him."
"Certainly not, but I can demand a court-martial."
"Yes; and it will be granted: but what do you gain by that? It's like
beating against a heavy gale and a lee tide--thousand to one if you
fetch your port; and if you do, your vessel is strained to pieces, sails
worn as thin as a newspaper, and rigging chafed half through, wanting
fresh serving: no orders for a re-fit, and laid up in ordinary for the
rest of your life. No, no, Mr Simple, the best plan is to grin and bear
it, and keep a sharp look-out; for depend upon it, Mr Simple, in the
best ship's company in the world, a spy captain will always find spy
followers.
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