Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 18, 2025
Of course the anti-smoker is entitled to say "it were better that the smacksman should be saved from tobacco as well as drink!" But of two evils it is wise to choose the less.
If you can stand a few hours of talk from an old smacksman you may hear a sombre litany of horror. Those fishers are, physically, the flower of our race, and many of them have the noblest moral qualities. Knowing what I do of the old days, I wonder that the men are any better than desperate savages. Jim Billings endured the bitterest hardships that could befall an apprentice.
The captain was creeping along the deck, "saying something about Madd-ray," as Joe put it. "It was him as was mad," the smacksman said, with an attempt at humour. "He made a try to stick me, and I felt something sting my arm like a pin going in." That was true. The maddened drunkard made a staggering attempt to stab Glenn, and then, with a yell, he poised on the rail and jumped into the sea.
The two men watched the vessel a long time, and they determined to run down on her as near as might be safe. As they drew on her it appeared that she was not actually hard-and-fast, but she was bumping apparently, and they guessed she had her anchors out. There is nothing in the way of close shaves that a smacksman will not venture, and the Esperanza was soon within speaking distance.
How, only a smacksman can tell. The skipper came down again. "Now, gentlemen, shall I run or not?" "Well, skipper, if we get through this we shall be more needed than ever." "Yes, sir; but if that last sea hadn't glanced a bit on our starboard bow, we shouldn't have got through. We've saved the boat, but she was snapped from the grips like a rotten tooth."
I shall only say that Jim Billings got release, as the fishers say, and his wild, infantine outburst made powerful men cry like children. He is now a very quiet soul, and he neither visits The Chequers nor any other hostelry. There was great fun among the Gorleston men when Jim turned serious, and one merry smacksman actually struck at the quadroon. Jim bit his lip, and said,
But the smacksman runs the risk of a hurt of some kind in every minute of his waking life.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking