Tales and Novels — Volume 05: Tales of a Fashionable LifeEdgeworth, Maria
General
Tales and Novels — Volume 05: Tales of a Fashionable Life
Edgeworth, Maria
Fiction
Then a violent crash above from the fall
of a mast; and then he heard one cry--‘I’ll be cursed if I should care,
if we did but know where-abouts we are.’ Then all was in such uproar,
that no voices could be distinguished. At last his cabin-door unlocked,
and many voices called upon him at once to come upon deck that instant
and save the ship. Walsingham absolutely refused to do any thing for
them till they returned to their duty, delivered up to him their arms,
and their ringleader, Jefferies. At this answer they stood aghast. Some
tried entreaties, some threats: all in vain. Walsingham coolly said,
he would go to the bottom along with the ship rather than say a word
to save them, till they submitted. The storm blew stronger--the danger
every moment increasing. One of the mutineers came with a drawn cutlass,
another levelled a blunderbuss at Walsingham, swearing to despatch him
that instant, if he would not tell them where they were. ‘Murder me,
and you will be hanged; persist in your mutiny, you’ll be drowned,’
said Walsingham. ‘You’ll never make me swerve from my duty--and you know
it--you have my answer.’ The enraged sailors seized him in their arms,
and carried him by force upon deck, where the sight of the danger,
and the cries of ‘Throw him overboard!--over with him!’ only seemed to
fortify his resolution. Not a word, not a sign could they get from him.
The rudder was now unshipped! At this the sailors’ fury turned
suddenly upon Jefferies, who between terror and ignorance was utterly
incapacitated. They seized, bound, gave him up to Walsingham, returned
to their duty; and then, and not till then, Walsingham resumed his
command. Walsingham’s voice, once more heard, inspired confidence, and
with the hopes revived the exertions of the sailors. I am not seaman
enough to tell you how the ship was saved; but that it was saved, and
saved by Walsingham, is certain. I remember only, that he made the ship
manageable by some contrivance, which he substituted in the place of the
rudder that had been unshipped. The storm abating, he made for the first
port, to repair the ship’s damages, intending to return to Jamaica, to
deliver her up to her captain; but, from a vessel they spoke at sea, he
learned that Jemmison was gone to England in a merchantman. To England
then Walsingham prepared to follow.”
“And with this rebel crew!” cried Beaumont; “think, Mr. Palmer, what a
situation he was in, knowing, as he did, that every rascal of them would
sooner go to the devil than go home, where they knew they must be tried
for their mutiny.”
“Well, sir, well!” said Mr. Palmer. “Did they run away with the ship a
second time? or how did he manage?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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