"'Sir, I swore I would never serve under the English flag, or recognize it except as the flag of an enemy. My own captain has deserted me. I am an American born, and my severed hand will show how I have kept my oath.' Then you, Ensign Tempest, called for three cheers for the brave American sailor. The crew and marines on the _Essex_ responded to the call, and the cheers ascended through the rigging. Captain Porter intimated that your influence in the service would not be good, and--to put it mildly--asked you to resign your commission. The men would have stood by you, but you knew disobedience to the captain's will was mutiny, and you offered your resignation, which was accepted. There was one who did plead for you--Cadet Midshipman Farragut. But Porter was inexorable, and you became a landsman." "How do you know all this?" "I have not yet finished; hear me through and we shall better understand each other." The _Lively Bee_ was skimming through the water at the rate of four knots an hour, but so well proportioned was she that the motion was almost imperceptible. "Take another glass of brandy, Tempest." "No, captain, I have sea legs, but a landsman's head, and cannot stand much grog." "You had not been on shore long before you again met Vincent Decatur. He was crippled for life, but was happier than had he been compelled to sail under the British flag. "You visited him--ah, your face tells me that I am right--you felt a strange desire to distinguish yourself, not because of patriotism altogether, but the bright eyes of Bertha Decatur shone into your very soul. She would marry none who deserted his country in the hour of need. The man she would honor was one who fought for his country. You heard this and----" "Shipped on a privateer," added Tempest, almost sarcastically. "Yes, shipped on the neatest, trimmest, fastest schooner afloat, on the _Lively Bee_, which shall sting so often and so deeply that all America shall respect its crew." "How did you learn all you have told me?" Captain Vernon laughed merrily, and looked at the young ensign almost quizzically. "You would like to know?" "I am burning with curiosity." "Then I will tell you. I heard the story partly from Midshipman Farragut----" "You know him?" "Of course I do." "And yet when Buller was reviling him at the Battery you did not defend him." "No! It would have been an impertinence for a privateer captain to defend a naval officer." "But young Farragut did not know----" "Bertha Decatur, no; but I do, and she sang your praises so often that I wanted to find you. Farragut quietly pointed you out in the crowd at the Battery, and--well, here you are." "A man before the mast." "No. You were ensign in the navy, where promotion is slow; you shall be first officer on the _Lively Bee_. Will you accept?" "How can I thank you?" "By doing your duty. I am proud to have you, Tempest, and I don't think you will ever rue the day you became first officer on the _Lively Bee_."