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Strolled on the island towards sunset, with the gannets for companions, the surf for music, and the heavy sand for a promenade. The weather cleared at nightfall, with the breeze fresh from the N.N.E. Some of the men are getting tired of their hard service; the chief boatswain's-mate having applied to return to England in the barque. Refused him permission, of course.
Captain Snipes lifted his finger, and the first boatswain's-mate advanced, combing out the nine tails of his "cat" with his fingers, and then, sweeping them round his neck, brought them with the whole force of his body upon the mark.
The Captain's finger was now lifted, and the first boatswain's-mate advanced, combing out the nine tails of his cat with his hand, and then, sweeping them round his neck, brought them with the whole force of his body upon the mark. Again, and again, and again; and at every blow, higher and higher rose the long, purple bars on the prisoner's back. But he only bowed over his head, and stood still.
Take him below!" shouted Farmer, "and if he attempts to open his mouth again put a bullet through his brains. Now, shipmates," he continued, as the master was hurried below, "make up your minds, and quickly too; which will you have, the yard-rope or a pitched battle?" "What occasion is there for either?" inquired a burly boatswain's-mate.
It was the first time I had ever heard it so sent through the furthest recesses of the ship, and well knowing what this generally betokened to other seamen, my heart jumped to my throat, and I hurriedly asked Flute, the boatswain's-mate at the fore-hatchway, what was wanted of me. "Captain wants ye at the mast," he replied. "Going to flog ye, I guess." "What for?"
The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use," says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a man-of-war under your lee!"
At the next blow, he howled, leaped and raged in unendurable agony. "What the d -l are you stopping for?" cried the captain as the boatswain's-mate halted. "Lay on!" and the whole dozen were applied, though poor Sukey fainted at the tenth stroke. Reader, this was on an English war vessel, the vessel of a nation professing a high state of civilization.
"Well, sir, the men thought, as he had fired first, that now all was over; only Jenkins, the boatswain's-mate, said, `that he warn't quite sure of that. We parts company with the commodore the next day, and the day a'ter, as it turned out, we falls in with a French frigate.
The young American's blood seemed clotting in his veins; he felt icy cold at the tips of his fingers, and a dimness was before his eyes; but through that dimness, the boatswain's-mate, scourge in hand, loomed like a giant, and Captain Snipes and the blue sea, seen through the opening at the gangway, showed with an awful vividness.
It was the first time he had ever heard it sent through the furthest recesses of the ship, and, well knowing what this generally betokened to other seamen, his heart jumped to his throat, and he hurriedly asked Brown, the boatswain's-mate at the fore-hatchway, what was wanted of him. "Captain wants ye at the mast," he answered. "Going to flog ye, I fancy." "What for?"
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