List, Ye Landsmen! A Romance of IncidentRussell, William Clark
General
List, Ye Landsmen! A Romance of Incident
Russell, William Clark
English fiction -- 19th century; Sea stories
“Señor,” exclaimed Antonio, “I was speaking of the food that we eat in
my country----”
“Captain,” bawled Teach, “he was a-bragging of the cod and onions, the
nuts and barley-water he meant to treat hisself to out of his share, as
he calls it, when he gets to his home.”
“She made mine plood poil,” cried Wirtz; “und he laughs at me vhen I
speaks of vhat ve eats in mine own country.”
“Señor,” exclaimed Antonio, “have not Jorge and me a right to a share?”
“Of what?”
“Of the money in the cases--of my country’s money--that you take out of
the Spanish ship.”
“Bol shall slit your nose if you talk like that. You rascal! Is it not
enough that we have saved your life? And what d’ye mean by your
country’s money? Of what country are you?”
“I am of Spain, señor; born at Salamanca.”
“There is no money in your country,” shouted Greaves. “Ye are paupers
all, cowards all, sneaks and rogues to a man.” Yan Bol laughed deep.
“Speak again of the money below being the money of your country, and
we’ll hang ye.”
“Señor,” said Antonio, “am I and Jorge to receive no money for working
as sailors in this ship?”
“Not so much as will purchase you a rag to wind round your greasy
ankles.”
A half-smothered laugh broke from Wirtz and others.
“We ask, then, that you land us,” said the Spaniard, whose audacity in
continuing to address Greaves was scarcely less astonishing than the
captain’s extraordinary exhibition of temper and wilder display of
words.
“Mind that you are not landed at the bottom of the sea, with a
twenty-four pound shot to keep you there,” cried Greaves. “Wirtz, did
you knock that man down?”
“Yaw, captain,” responded Wirtz, in a voice that made one guess at the
grin upon his face.
“You are a big man, Wirtz, and Antonio is a little man. Wirtz, I wish
you may not be a coward at heart. Know you not,” cried Greaves,
elevating his voice, “that it is written, ‘Make not an hungry soul
sorrowful; neither provoke a man in his distress.’ The soul of Antonio
is hungry for dollars and you have made him sorrowful; he is in
distress, being shipwrecked and having lost all his clothes, and you
have provoked him. Your grog is stopped for a week, Wirtz.”
“By Cott, but dot vhas hardt upon a man,” said the Dutchman.
“Now get forward, all hands,” exclaimed Greaves, “but mark you this; any
man who raises his hand against another on board this brig goes into
irons and forfeits his share of dollars. This is to be a peaceful and a
smiling ship. We are going to get home sweetly and soberly; then comes
your enjoyment--the pleasures of beasts or men, as you choose. Let no
man say no to this.”
He walked aft; I thought he would stay to have a word with me. Instead
he immediately descended into the cabin. The men moved forward, talking
among themselves, some of them laughing.
Yan Bol came up to me and said:
“I tell you vhat, Mr. Fielding, der Captain Greaves vhas a very fine
shentleman.”
“Very.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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