"She is now all ready
for action again, and I wait your orders. The enemy is two miles on the
lee quarter."
The surgeon here came up with his report.
"Good heavens!" said the captain, "forty-seven men killed and wounded,
Mr Webster dangerously. Why, the brig is crippled. We can do no more--
positively, we can do no more."
"_We can take that brig, anyhow_," cried one of the seamen from a dozen
of the men who were to leeward, expecting orders to renew the attack.
"What man was that?" cried the captain.
No one answered.
"By G----d! this ship is in a state of mutiny, Mr Simple."
"Will _soon_ be, I think," said a voice from the crowd, which I knew
very well; but the captain, having been but a short time with us, did
not know it.
"Do you hear that, Mr Simple?" cried the captain.
"I regret to say that I did hear it, sir; I little thought that ever
such an expression would have been made use of on board of the
_Rattlesnake_." Then, fearing he would ask me the man's name, and to
pretend not to have recognised it, I said, "Who was that who made use of
that expression?" But no one answered; and it was so dark, that it was
impossible to distinguish the men.
"After such mutinous expressions," observed the captain, "I certainly
will not risk His Majesty's brig under my command, as I should have
wished to have done, even in her crippled state, by again engaging the
enemy. I can only regret that the officers appear as insolent as the
men."
"Perhaps, Captain Hawkins, you will state in what, and when, I have
proved myself insolent.
Pages:
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610