I heard him patiently enough till he had done, and then told him that I
confessed I had all along opposed the massacre of Madagascar, and that I
had, on all occasions, spoken my mind freely about it, though not more
upon him than any of the rest; that as to having no command in the ship,
that was true; nor did I exercise any authority, only took the liberty of
speaking my mind in things which publicly concerned us all; and what
concern I had in the voyage was none of his business; that I was a
considerable owner in the ship. In that claim I conceived I had a right
to speak even further than I had done, and would not be accountable to
him or any one else, and began to be a little warm with him. He made but
little reply to me at that time, and I thought the affair had been over.
We were at this time in the road at Bengal; and being willing to see the
place, I went on shore with the supercargo in the ship's boat to divert
myself; and towards evening was preparing to go on board, when one of the
men came to me, and told me he would not have me trouble myself to come
down to the boat, for they had orders not to carry me on board any more.
Any one may guess what a surprise I was in at so insolent a message; and
I asked the man who bade him deliver that message to me? He told me the
coxswain.
I immediately found out the supercargo, and told him the story, adding
that I foresaw there would be a mutiny in the ship; and entreated him to
go immediately on board and acquaint the captain of it. But I might have
spared this intelligence, for before I had spoken to him on shore the
matter was effected on board. The boatswain, the gunner, the carpenter,
and all the inferior officers, as soon as I was gone off in the boat,
came up, and desired to speak with the captain; and then the boatswain,
making a long harangue, and repeating all he had said to me, told the
captain that as I was now gone peaceably on shore, they were loath to use
any violence with me, which, if I had not gone on shore, they would
otherwise have done, to oblige me to have gone. They therefore thought
fit to tell him that as they shipped themselves to serve in the ship
under his command, they would perform it well and faithfully; but if I
would not quit the ship, or the captain oblige me to quit it, they would
all leave the ship, and sail no further with him; and at that word _all_
he turned his face towards the main-mast, which was, it seems, a signal
agreed on, when the seamen, being got together there, cried out, "_One
and all_! _one and all_!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account