"Why," said I, irritated at his folly, "you are as clever a fellow as
the skipper."
This he considered so great an affront, that he ran down to his cabin,
saying, "You shall hear from me again for this, Sir."
I concluded that he meant to try me by a court-martial, to which I had
certainly laid myself open by this unguarded expression; but I went on
the quarter-deck, and, during his absence, got as many muskets into
the boat as I wanted, with a proper proportion of ammunition. This
was hardly completed, before the lieutenant came up again, and put
a letter into my hands: which was no more than the very comfortable
intelligence, that, on my return from the expedition on which I was
then going, he should expect satisfaction for the affront I had
offered him. I was glad, however, to find it was no worse. I laughed
at his threat; and, as the very head and front of my offending was
only having compared him to the captain, he could not show any
resentment openly, for fear of displeasing his patron. In short, to be
offended at it, was to offer the greatest possible affront to the
man he looked up to for promotion, and thus destroy all his golden
prospects.
As I put this well-timed challenge into my pocket, I walked down the
side, got into my boat, and put off. It wanted but one hour of sunset
when I reached the part where this infernal gig was supposed to be,
and the sky gave strong indications of an approaching gale.
Pages:
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447