The Red Rover & Other Sea Adventures – 3 Novels in One Volume. Джеймс Фенимор Купер
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enough, in the shell of an East-India oyster; I will have a copy set in coral, and sent to your husband, whenever you may see fit to choose one.”
Then, repeating his bow, with a scrape of the foot, he turned to the governess, in order to continue his examination.
“And you, Madam.” he said, “is this the first time you have ever come into my dominions, or not?”
“Neither the first, nor the twentieth; I have often seen your Majesty before.”
“An old acquaintance! In what latitude might it be that we first fell in with each other?”
“I believe I first enjoyed that honour, quite thirty years since, under the Equator.”
“Ay, ay, I’m often there, looking out for India-men and your homeward-bound Brazil traders. I boarded a particularly great number that very season but can’t say I remember your countenance.”
“I fear that thirty years have made some changes in it,” returned the governess, with a smile, which, though mournful, was far too dignified in its melancholy to induce the suspicion that she regretted a loss so vain as that of her personal charms. “I was in a vessel of the King, and one that was a little remarkable by its size, since it was of three decks.”
The God received the guinea, which was now secretly offered, but it would seem that success had quickened his covetousness; for, instead of returning thanks, he rather appeared to manifest a disposition to increase the amount of the bribe.
“All this may be just as your Ladyship says,” he rejoined; “but the interest of my kingdom, and a large family at home, make it necessary that I should look sharp to my rights. Was there a flag in the vessel?”
“There was.”
“Then, it is likely they hoisted it, as usual, at the end of the jib-boom?”
“It was hoisted, as is usual with a Vice-Admiral, at the fore.”
“Well answered, for petticoats!” muttered the Deity, a little baffled in his artifice. “It is d——d queer, saving your Ladyship’s presence, that I should have forgotten such a ship: Was there any thing of the extraordinary sort, that one would be likely to remember?”
The features of the governess had already lost their forced pleasantry, in a shade of grave reflection and her eye was evidently fastened on vacancy us she answered, to all appearance like one who thought aloud.—
“I can, at this moment, see the arch and roguish manner with which that wayward boy, who then had but eight years, over-reached the cunning of the mimic Neptune, and retaliated for his devices, by turning the laugh of all on board on his own head!”
“Was he but eight?” demanded a deep voice at her elbow.
“Eight in years, but maturer in artifice,” returned Mrs Wyllys, seeming to awake from a trance, as she turned her eyes full upon the face of the Rover.
“Well, well,” interrupted the captain of the forecastle who cared not to continue ‘an inquiry in which his dreaded Commander saw fit to take a part, “I dare say it is all right. I will look into my journal if I find it so, well—if not, why, it’s only giving the ship a head-wind, until I’ve overhauled the Dane, and then it will be all in good time to receive the balance of the fee.”
So saying, the God hurried past the officers, and turned his attention to the marine guard, who had grouped themselves in a body, secretly aware of the necessity each man might be under of receiving support from his fellows, in so searching a scrutiny Perfectly familiar with the career each individual among them had run, in his present lawless profession and secretly apprehensive that his authority might be forced suddenly from him, the chief of the forecastle selected a raw landsman from among them, bidding his attendants to drag the victim forward, where he believed they might act the cruel revels he contemplated with less danger of interruption. Already irritated by the laughs which had been created at their expense, and resolute to defend their comrade the marines resisted. A long, clamorous, and angry dispute succeeded, during which each party maintained its right to pursue the course it had adopted. From words the disputants were not long in passing to the signs of hostilities. It was while the peace of the ship hung, as it were, suspended by a hair, that the General saw fit to express the disgust of such an outrage upon discipline, which had, throughout the whole scene, possessed his mind.
“I protest against this riotous and unmilitary procedure,” he said, addressing himself to his still abstracted and thoughtful superior. “I have taught my men, I trust, the proper spirit of soldiers, and there is no greater disgrace can happen to one of them than to lay hands on him, except it be in the regular and wholesome way of a cat.—I give open warning to all, that, if a finger is put upon one of my bullies, unless, as I have said, in the way of discipline, it will be answered with a blow.”
As the General had not essayed to smother his voice, it was heard by his followers, and produced the effect which might have been expected. A vigorous thrust from the fist of the sergeant drew mortal blood from the visage of the God of the Sea, and at once established his terrestrial origin. Thus compelled to support his manhood, in more senses than one, the stout seaman returned the salutation, with such additional embellishments as the exigencies of the moment seemed to require. Such an interchange of civilities, between two so prominent personages, was the signal of general hostilities among their respective followers. The uproar that attended the onset, had caught the attention of Fid, who, the instant he saw the nature of the sports below, abandoned his companion on the yard, and slid downwards to the deck by the aid of a backstay, with about as much facility as that caricature of man, the monkey, could have performed the same manoeuvre. His example was followed by all the topmen; and in less than a minute, there was every appearance that the audacious marines would be borne down by the sheer force of numbers. But, stout in their resolution, and bitter in their hostility, these drilled and resentful warriors, instead of seeking refuge in flight, fell back upon each other, for support. Bayonets were seen gleaming in the sun; while some of the seamen, in the exterior of the crowd, were already laying their hands on the half-pikes that formed a warlike ornament to the foot of the mast.
“Hold! stand back, every man of you!” cried Wilder, dashing into the centre of the throng, and forcing them aside, with a haste that was possibly quickened by the recollection of the increased danger that would surround the unprotected females, should the bands of subordination be once fairly broken among so lawless and desperate a crew. “On your lives, fall back, and obey. And you, sir, who claim to be so good a soldier, I call on you to bid your men refrain.”
The General, however disgusted he might have been by the previous scene, had too many important interests involved in the interior peace of the vessel not to exert himself at this appeal. He was seconded by all the inferior officers, who well knew that their lives, as well as their comfort, depended on staying the torrent that had so unexpectedly broken loose. But they only proved how hard it is to uphold an authority that is not established on the foundation of legitimate power. Neptune had cast aside his masquerade; and, backed by all his stout forecastle men, was evidently preparing for a conflict that might speedily give him greater pretensions to immortal nature than those he had just rejected. Until now, the officers, partly by threats and partly by remonstrances, had so far controlled the outbreaking, that the time had been passed rather in preparations than in violence. But the marines had seized their arms; while two crowded masses of the mariners were forming on either side of the mainmast, abundantly provided with spikes, and such other weapons as the bars and handspikes of the vessel afforded. One or two of the cooler heads among the latter had even proceeded so far as to clear away a gun, which they were pointing inboard in a direction that might have swept a moiety of the quarter-deck. In short, the broil had just reached that pass when another blow, struck from either side, must have given up the vessel to plunder and massacre. The danger of such a crisis was heightened by the bitter taunts that broke forth from fifty profane lips, which were only opened to lavish the coarsest revilings on the persons and characters of their respective enemies.
During the five minutes that might have flown by in such sinister and threatening symptoms of insubordination the individual who was chiefly interested