Marmaduke Merry: A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone DaysKingston, William Henry Giles
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Marmaduke Merry: A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone Days
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Midshipmen -- Fiction; Sea stories
"At last one day, the doctor wouldn't stand it any longer; so says he,
`If you don't let me out of this, I'll make you sing out "Coopity!
coopity!" from the other side of your mouth; so look out.' The captain
laughed at him, and went on as before. However, we had to put into Port
Jackson to refit, and it came to the ears of the governor that our
skipper had a man shut up in a hen-coop; so he sent some soldiers
aboard, and had the doctor taken out and brought ashore. Then there was
a regular trial, and the governor heard what the doctor had to say, and
the skipper and we had to say, and then he says, `I decide that you,
Captain Crowfoot, shall pay Dr McGrath two hundred golden guineas
before you leave this court.' The captain, with many wry faces, began
to make all sorts of excuses, but the governor wouldn't listen to one of
them, and Captain Crowfoot had to get a merchant to hand him out two
bags of guineas. `Count them, captain, count them,' says the governor;
and as the skipper counted them out on the table, the doctor stood by
with another bag, and, as he swept them in with his hand, he kept
singing out `Coopity! coopity! coopity!' Really it was pleasant to hear
the doctor go on with his `Coopity! coopity! coopity!' Everybody in the
court laughed, and, I believe you, the skipper was glad enough to get
away when he had counted out all his money, and there was a regular
cheer of `Coopity! coopity! coopity!' as he rushed out of the court." I
had not seen McAllister laugh since we had lost the prize. He now gave
way to a hearty peal, exclaiming, "Ha! ha! ha! I'll make the French
lieutenant sing out `Coopity! coopity! coopity!' before the world is
many years older."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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