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Updated: June 16, 2025
It will be unpleasant for me, of course, but it will remove from you a constant source of temptation to commit murder." Mendouca laughed it was rather a harsh and jarring laugh, certainly and said "Upon my honour as a Spanish gentleman, you appear to be mightily concerned to preserve me from the crime of bloodshed, young gentleman.
Oh, how fervently I begged and entreated Mendouca to have mercy upon the unhappy creatures, and to at least give orders that they must be no more flogged, even if inexorable necessity demanded that they must be kept toiling at the sweeps.
I began to wonder in which direction our assailants had gone, remembering that much of the effectiveness of the defence of Bella Vista had been due to the early warning given by Don Esteban de Mendouca, which had afforded us the time to make the necessary preparations; and it occurred to me that if the route taken by the outlaws could be determined, it might be possible to pass on the warning, and so enable somebody else to prepare a warm reception for them.
"Before I give you any answer to that," said I, "I must ask you to explicitly define and accurately set forth the nature of the assistance that you desire me to render." "Certainly," said Mendouca. "All that I ask of you at present is to relieve me by taking charge of a watch, and assisting me to navigate the ship.
Mendouca, highly amused at my heat and excitement on behalf of the negroes, had followed me on deck, probably to see what I would next do; and upon hearing this threat he called out, jeeringly "Look out, Jose, my man! Senor Dugdale has warned you, and you may be sure that if you strike one of those niggers again he will carry out his threat!"
Secondly, that you undertake to perpetrate no act of piracy while I am on board. And, thirdly, that you will allow me to leave your ship upon the first occasion that we happen to encounter a sail of a nationality friendly to Great Britain." "Is that all?" demanded Mendouca. "By my faith, but you appear to attach a somewhat high value to your services, senor midshipman!
Come below, like a sensible lad; I have that to say to you which I do not choose to say on deck in the presence of the men. "Mendouca." "Oh!" thought I, "so he has returned to his right mind, has he? Very well, I will go below and hear what he has to say; for it would certainly be unpleasant to be in a ship for any length of time with the captain of which one is not on speaking terms."
But even as the thought passed through my mind it seemed to have also occurred to Mendouca; for he strode toward the waist and exclaimed in a low, clear voice that was distinctly audible fore and aft, but which would probably not have been audible half a cable's length away "Let those niggers knock off sweeping for the present, and send them below.
It was just that important oversight that caused what ought to have been a splendid success to result in a serious disaster; the intention was good, but, as is much too often the case, they had reckoned without their host." "But I do not understand," I cut in, as Mendouca paused. "What was the plot? and how was Lobo concerned in it?
"Oh no; nothing strange about it at all," answered Mendouca carelessly. "Her people are getting their supper, probably, and are too lazy to start tack or sheet until they have finished their meal. Bless you, you have no idea what lazy rascals the Portuguese are; their laziness is absolutely phenomenal; they are positively too lazy to live long, and so most of them die early.
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