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05 - Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates

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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, the slapping sal It was in the days
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  Speaker 1: when France's power was already broken upon the seas, and
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  Speaker 1: when more of a three deckers lay rotting in the
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  Speaker 1: Medway than it were to be found in Breast Harbor.
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  Speaker 1: But a frigates and corvettes still scoured the ocean, closely
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  Speaker 1: followed ever by those of her rival. At the uttermost
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  Speaker 1: ends of the earth. These dainty vessels, with sweet names
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  Speaker 1: of girls or flowers, mangled and shattered each other for
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  Speaker 1: the honor of the four yards of bunting which flapped
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  Speaker 1: from the end of their gaps. It had blown hard
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  Speaker 1: in the night, but the wind had dropped with the dawning,
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  Speaker 1: and now the rising sun tinted the fringe of the
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  Speaker 1: storm racks and had dwindled into the west and glinted
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  Speaker 1: on the endless crest of the long green waves. To
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  Speaker 1: north and south and west lay at skyline, which was
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  Speaker 1: unbroken save for the spout of foam when two of
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  Speaker 1: the great Atlantic seas dashed into each other into spray.
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  Speaker 1: To the east was a rocky island jutting out into
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  Speaker 1: craggy points, with a few scattered clumps of palm trees
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  Speaker 1: and a pennant of mist streaming out from the bare
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  Speaker 1: conical hill which capt it. A heavy surf beat upon
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  Speaker 1: the shore, and at a safe distance from it, the
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  Speaker 1: British thirty two two gun frigate Leda Captain A. P. Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: raised her black glistening side upon the crest of a wave,
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  Speaker 1: or swooped down into an emerald valley, dipping away to
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  Speaker 1: the northward under easy sail. On our snow white quarter
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  Speaker 1: deck stood a stiff, little brown faced man who swept
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  Speaker 1: the horizon with his glass, mister Wharton. He cried with
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  Speaker 1: a voice like a rusty hinge, a thin knocking. The
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  Speaker 1: officer shambled across the poop to him. Yes, sir, I've
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  Speaker 1: opened the sealed orders, mister Wharton. A glimmer of curiosity
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  Speaker 1: shown upon the meager features of the first Lieutenant. The
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  Speaker 1: Leda had sailed with her consort the Dido from Antigo
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  Speaker 1: the week before, and the adamalst orders had been contained
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  Speaker 1: in a sealed envelope. We were to open them on
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  Speaker 1: reaching the deserted island of Sombrero, lying in north latitude
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six west latitude sixty three twenty eight. Sombrero
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  Speaker 1: bore four miles to the northeast from our port bow,
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  Speaker 1: and the gale cleared mister Wharton. The Lieutenant bowed stiffly.
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  Speaker 1: He and the Captain had been bosom friends from childhood.
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  Speaker 1: They had gone a school together, joined the navy together,
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  Speaker 1: fought again and again together, and married to each other's families.
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  Speaker 1: But as long as their feet were on the poop,
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  Speaker 1: the iron discipline of the service struck all that was
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  Speaker 1: human out of them, and left only the superior and
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  Speaker 1: the subordinate. Captain Johnson took from his pocket a blue paper,
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  Speaker 1: which crackled as he unfolded it. The thirty two gun
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  Speaker 1: frigates LEDA and Dido, Captains A. P. Johnson and James
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  Speaker 1: Monroe are to cruise from the point at which these
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  Speaker 1: instructions are read, to the mouth of the Caribbean Sea,
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  Speaker 1: in the hope of encountering the French frigate La Glory
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  Speaker 1: forty eight, which has recently harassed our merchant ships in
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  Speaker 1: the quarter. Her Majesty's frigates are also directed to hunt
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  Speaker 1: down the piratical craft known sometimes as the Slapping sal
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes as the Harry Hudson, which has plundered the
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  Speaker 1: British ships. As per marching inflicting barbarities upon their crew.
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  Speaker 1: She's a small brig carrying ten light guns with one
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  Speaker 1: twenty four pound carrnade forward. She was last seen upon
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  Speaker 1: a twenty third Ultramridian to the northeast of the island.
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  Speaker 1: Sombrero signed James Montgomery, Rear, Admiral HMS Colossus Antigua. We
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  Speaker 1: appear to have lost our consort, said Captain Johnson, folding
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  Speaker 1: up his instructions and again sweeping horizon with his glass.
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  Speaker 1: She drew away when we reefed down. It would be
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  Speaker 1: a pity if we met this heavy Frenchman without the dido,
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  Speaker 1: mister Wharton, Eh, the Lieutenant twinkled and smiled. She has
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  Speaker 1: eighteen pounders on the main and twelve on the poop, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: said the captain. She carries four hundred to our two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty one. Captain de Milon is the smartest
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  Speaker 1: man in the French service. Oh, Bobby boy, I'd give
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  Speaker 1: my hopes of my flag to rub my side up
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  Speaker 1: against her. He turned on his heel, ashamed of his
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  Speaker 1: military lapse, Mister Wharton said, he looking back, stoning over
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  Speaker 1: his shoulder. Get those square sails shaken out and bear
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  Speaker 1: a way a point more to the west. A brig
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  Speaker 1: on the port bow, came a voice in the forecastle.
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  Speaker 1: A brig on the port bow, said the lieutenant. The
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  Speaker 1: captain sprang upon the bulwarks and held on by the
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  Speaker 1: mizzen shrouds, a strange little figure with flying skirts and
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  Speaker 1: puckered eyes. The lean lieutenant craned his neck and whispered
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  Speaker 1: to Smeatin the second, while officers and men came popping
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  Speaker 1: up from below and clustering along the weather rails, shading
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  Speaker 1: their eyes with their hands, for the tropical sun was
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  Speaker 1: already clear of the palm trees. The strange brig lay
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  Speaker 1: at anchor in the throat of a curving estuary, and
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  Speaker 1: it was already obvious that she could not get out
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  Speaker 1: without passing under the guns of the frigate. A long
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  Speaker 1: rocky point to the north of her held her in
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  Speaker 1: Keep her as she goes, mister Wharton, said the captain.
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  Speaker 1: Hardly worthwhile are clearing for action, mister Smeaton. But the
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  Speaker 1: men can stand by the guns in case she tries
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  Speaker 1: to pass us. Cast loose the bowchasers and send the
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  Speaker 1: small arms men to the forecastle. A British crew went
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  Speaker 1: to its quarters in those days, with the quiet serenity
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  Speaker 1: of men in their daily routine. In a few minutes,
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  Speaker 1: without fuss or sound. The sailors were knotted around their guns,
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  Speaker 1: the marines were drawn up and leaning on their muskets,
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  Speaker 1: and the frigate's bow spriad pointed straight for the little victim.
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  Speaker 1: Is it the slapping sal Sir? I have no doubt it,
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  Speaker 1: mister Wharton. They don't seem to like the look of us, Sir.
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  Speaker 1: They've cut their cables and are clapping on sale. It
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  Speaker 1: was evident that the brig meant struggling for her freedom.
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  Speaker 1: One little patch of canvas fluttered out above another, and
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  Speaker 1: her people could be seen working like mad men in
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  Speaker 1: the rigging. She made no attempt to pass her antagonist,
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  Speaker 1: but headed up the estuary. The captain rubbed his hands.
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  Speaker 1: She's making for shoal water, mister Wharton, and we shall
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  Speaker 1: have to cut her out, Sir. She's a footy little brig,
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  Speaker 1: but I should have thought a four and after would
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  Speaker 1: have been more handy. It was a mutiny, sir ah. Indeed, yes, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I heard of it at Manila, A bad business, Sir.
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  Speaker 1: Captain and two mates murdered This Hudson, or Harry Hudson,
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  Speaker 1: as they call him, led the mutiny. He's a Londoner, sir,
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  Speaker 1: and a cruel villain has ever walked. His next walk
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  Speaker 1: would be to execution dock, mister Wharton. She seems heavily manned.
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  Speaker 1: I wish I could take twenty top men out of her,
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  Speaker 1: but they would be enough to corrupt the crew of
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  Speaker 1: the ark, mister Wharton. Both officers were looking through their
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  Speaker 1: glasses at the brig. Suddenly the lieutenant showed his teeth
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  Speaker 1: in a grin, while the captain flushed deeper red. That's
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  Speaker 1: Harry Hudson on the after rail, Sir, the low, impertinent blackguard.
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  Speaker 1: He'll play some other antics before we are done with him.
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  Speaker 1: Could you reach him with the long eighteen, mister Smeaton,
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  Speaker 1: Another cable length will do, sir. The brig yawed as
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  Speaker 1: they spoke, and as she came round, a spurt of
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  Speaker 1: smoke whipped down from her quarter. It was a pure
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  Speaker 1: piece of bravado, for the gun could scarcely carry halfway. Then,
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  Speaker 1: with a jaunty swing, the little ship came into the
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  Speaker 1: wind again and shot round a fresh curve in the
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  Speaker 1: winding channel. The water shoaling rapidly, sir, repeat the second lieutenant.
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  Speaker 1: There's six fathoms by the chart, four by the lead. Sir.
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  Speaker 1: When we clear the point, we shall see how we
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  Speaker 1: lie ha I thought as much. Lay her two, mister Wharton.
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  Speaker 1: Now we have got her at our mercy. The frigate
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  Speaker 1: was quite out of sight of the sea, now at
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  Speaker 1: the head of the Riverlake estuary, and she came round
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  Speaker 1: the curve the two shores that were seen to converge
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  Speaker 1: to a point about a mile distant in the angle.
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  Speaker 1: As near shore as she can get. The brig was
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  Speaker 1: lying with her broadside toward her pursuer, and a wisp
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  Speaker 1: of black cloth screaming from her Mizzen. The lean lieutenant,
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  Speaker 1: who had reappeared upon deck with a cutless strap to
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  Speaker 1: his side and two pistols rammed into his belt, peered
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  Speaker 1: curiously at the ends. In is it the jolly rogers, sir,
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  Speaker 1: he asked, But the captain was furious. He may hang
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  Speaker 1: where his breeches are hanging before I have done with them,
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  Speaker 1: said he. What boats will you want, mister Wharton? We
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  Speaker 1: should do it with a launch in the jolly boat.
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  Speaker 1: Take four and make a clean job of it. Pipe
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  Speaker 1: away the crews at once, and I'll work her in
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  Speaker 1: and help you with the long eighteens. With a rattle
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  Speaker 1: of ropes and the creaking of blocks, the four boats
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  Speaker 1: splashed into the water. The crews clustered thickly into them,
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  Speaker 1: barefooted sailors, stolid marines, laughing middies, and the sheets of each.
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  Speaker 1: The senior officer, with her stern schoolmaster, faces the captain,
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  Speaker 1: his elbows on the binnacle, still watching the distant brig
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  Speaker 1: Her crew were tracing up the boarding netting, dragging round
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  Speaker 1: the starboard guns, knocking new portholes for them, and making
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  Speaker 1: every preparation for a desperate resistance. In the thick of it,
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  Speaker 1: a huge man, bearded to the eyes with a red
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  Speaker 1: nightcap upon his head, was straining and stooping and hauling.
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  Speaker 1: The captain watched him a sour smile, and then, stapping
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  Speaker 1: up his glast, he turned upon his heel. For an
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  Speaker 1: instant he stood staring. Called back the boats, he cried
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  Speaker 1: in a thin creaking voice, clear way for action there,
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  Speaker 1: cast loose those main deck guns, brace back the yards,
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  Speaker 1: mister Speaton, and stand by to go about when she
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  Speaker 1: has way enough round the curve of the Estuary was
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  Speaker 1: coming a huge vessel. Her great yellow bowsprit and white
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  Speaker 1: winged figure head were jutting out from the cluster of
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  Speaker 1: palm trees, while high above them towered three immense masts
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  Speaker 1: and the tricolored flag floating superbly from the mizzen round
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  Speaker 1: She came, the deep blue water creaming under her forefoot
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  Speaker 1: until her long curving backslide, her line of shining copper
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  Speaker 1: beneath and of snow white hammock above, and the thick
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  Speaker 1: clusters of men who peered over her bulwarks were all
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  Speaker 1: in full view. Her lower yards were slung, her ports
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  Speaker 1: triced up, and her guns run out, already for action.
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  Speaker 1: Lying behind one of the promontories of the island, the
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  Speaker 1: lookout men of the Glory upon her shore had seen
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  Speaker 1: the cul de sac into which the British frigate was headed.
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  Speaker 1: So the Captain de Milon had served the lida as
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  Speaker 1: Captain Johnson had the slapping sal But the splendid discipline
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  Speaker 1: of the British Service was at its best in such
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  Speaker 1: a crisis. The boats flew back, the crews clustered aboard.
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  Speaker 1: They were swung up at the davits, and the fall
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  Speaker 1: ropes made fast, hammocks were brought up and stowed, bulkheads
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  Speaker 1: sent down, ports and magazines opened. The fires out in
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  Speaker 1: the galley, and the drums beat the quarters. Swarms of
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  Speaker 1: men set the head sail and brought the frigate round,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: while the gun crews threw off their jackets and shirts,
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  Speaker 1: tightened their belts, and ran out their eighteen pounders. Peering
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  Speaker 1: through the open portholes at the stately frenchmen, the wind
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  Speaker 1: was very light. Hardly a ripple showed itself upon the
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  Speaker 1: clear blue water, but the sail blew gently out as
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  Speaker 1: the breeze came over the woods and bangs. The Frenchmen
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  Speaker 1: had gone about also, and both ships were now heading
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  Speaker 1: slowly for the sea under fore and aft canvas. The
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  Speaker 1: Glory one hundred yards in advance. She left up to
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  Speaker 1: cross the leader's bows, and the British ship came round also,
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  Speaker 1: and the two rippled slowly on in such silence that
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  Speaker 1: the ringing of ramrods as the French marines drove home
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  Speaker 1: their charges climbed quite loudly upon the ear not much
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  Speaker 1: sea room. Mister Wharton remarked, the Captain, I have fought
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  Speaker 1: actions in less Sir, we must keep our distance and
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  Speaker 1: trust to our gunnery. She is very heavily manned, and
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  Speaker 1: if she got alongside, we might find ourselves in trouble.
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  Speaker 1: I see the shackos of soldiers aboard of her two
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  Speaker 1: company of light infantry from Martinique. Now we have her
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  Speaker 1: hard a port, and let her have it as we
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  Speaker 1: cross her stern the keen eye. The little commander had
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  Speaker 1: seen the service ribble which told of a passing breeze.
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  Speaker 1: He had used it to dart across the big Frenchman
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  Speaker 1: and rake her with every gun as he passed. But
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: once past her, the leader had to come back into
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  Speaker 1: the wind and keep out of shoal water. The maneuver
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: brought her on the starboard side of the Frenchman, and
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  Speaker 1: the trim little frigate seemed to heal right over under
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the crashing broadside which burst from the gaping ports. A
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: moment later, her top men were swarming aloft set her
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  Speaker 1: topsails and royals, and she strove to cross the Glory's
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  Speaker 1: bows and rake her again. The French captain, however, brought
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  Speaker 1: his frigate's head round and the two roads side by
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  Speaker 1: side with an easy pistol shot, pouring broadsides into each
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  Speaker 1: other in one of those murderous duels, which, could they
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  Speaker 1: all be recorded, would model our charts with blood. In
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: that heavy tropical air, with so faint a breeze, the
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  Speaker 1: smoke formed a thick bank round the two vessels, from
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  Speaker 1: which the top masts only protruded. Neither could see anything
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  Speaker 1: of its enemy save the throbs of fire in the darkness,
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  Speaker 1: and the guns were sponged and trained, and fired into
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  Speaker 1: the dense wall of vapor. On the poop and forecastle.
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  Speaker 1: The marines and two little red lions were pouring into
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  Speaker 1: their volley, but neither they nor the seaman gunners could
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  Speaker 1: see what effect their fire was having, nor indeed could
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: they tell how far they were suffering themselves. For standing
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: at a gun, one could but hazily see upon the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: right and the left. But above the roar of the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: cannon came the sharper sounds of piping shot, the crashing
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: of riven planks, and the occasional heavy thud spar or
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: blocking hurling onto the deck. The lieutenants paced up and
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: down the line of guns, while Captain Johnson fanned the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: smoke away with the cocked hat and peered eagerly out.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: This is rare, Bobby said he as a lieutenant joined him,
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  Speaker 1: then suddenly restraining himself. What if we lost, mister Wharton,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: our main topsail yard and our gaff. Sir, where's the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: flag gun overboard? Sir? They'll think we've struck lash of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: boat's entsin on the starboard arm of the mizzen crossed jackyard. Yes, sir.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: A round shot dashed of binnacle to pieces between them.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: A second knocked two marines into a bloody, pulpitating mash.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: For a moment, the smoke rose, and the English captain
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: saw that his adversary's heavier metal was producing a horrible effect.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: The Lida was a shattered wreck. Her deck was strewn
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: with corpses, several reportholes were knocked into one, and one
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: of her eighteen pounded guns had been thrown right back
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: onto her breach and pointed straight up into the sky.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: The thin line of marines still loaded and fired, but
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: half the guns were silent, and the crews were piled
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  Speaker 1: thickly round them. Stand by to repel borders, yelled the captain.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Cutlass's lads, Cutlass's word, Wharton, hold your volley till they touch,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: cried the captain of Marines. The huge loom of the
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Frenchman was seen bursting through the smoke, thick clusters of
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: borders hung upon her sides and shrouds. A final broadside
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: leaped from reports, and the main mast of Alita, snapping
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: short off a few feet above the deck, spun into
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the air and crashed down upon the port guns, killing
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: ten men and putting the whole battery out of action.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: An instant later, the two ships scraped together, and the
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: starboard bower anchor of the Glory caught the mizzen chains
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: of the Lida upon the port side with a yell.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: The black swarm of boarders steadied themselves for the spring,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: but their feet were never to reach the blood stained deck,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: for somewhere there came a well aimed whiff of grape,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: and another and another. The English marines and seamen, waiting
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: with cutlasses and musket behind the silent guns, saw with
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: amazement the dark masses thinning and shredding away. At the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: same time, the port broadside of the Frenchmen burst into
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a roar clearway. The record the captain, what the devil
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: are they firing at? Get the guns clear? Panted the lieutenant,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: we'll do them yet, boys. The record was torn and
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: half and splintered, until first one gun and then another
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: board into action. The Frenchman's anchor had been cut away,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: and the Lda had worked himself free of the fatal hug.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: But now suddenly there was a scurry up the shrouds
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: of the Glory, and a hundred Englishmen were shouting themselves, horse,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: they're running, They're running, They're running. And it was true
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the Frenchman had ceased to fire and was intent only
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: upon clapping on every sail that he could carry, but
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: that shouting hundred could not clean in alls their own.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: As the smoke cleared, it was not difficult to see
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: the reason. The ships had gained the mouth of the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Estuary during the fight, and there, about four miles out
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the sea was the Lda's consort bearing down under full
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: sail to the sound of the guns. Captain Demilon had
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: done his part for one day, and presently the Glory
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: was drawing off swiftly to the north, while the Didoh
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: was bowling along in her skirts, rattling away with her bowchasers,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: until a headland hid them both from view. But the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Lida lay sorely stricken, with her main mask gone, her
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: bulwarfs shattered, her mizzen top masting gaff, shot away, her
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: sails like a beggar's rags, and a hundred of her
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: crew dead and wounded. Bost beside her was a massive
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: wreckage floating upon the waves. It was the stern post
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of the mangled vessel, and across it in white letters.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: On the black ground was painted the slapping sal by
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the Lord. It was the brig that saved us, said
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: mister Wharton. Hudson brought her interaction with the Frenchman and
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: was blown out of the water by a broadside. The
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: little captain turned on his heel and paced up and
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: down the deck. Already his crew were plugging the shoutholes,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: nodding and splicing and bending. When he came back, the
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: lieutenant saw a softening of the stern lines about his
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: eyes and mouth. Are they all gone, every man? They
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: must have sunk the wreck. The two officers looked down
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: at the sinister name and at the stump of wreckage
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: which floated in the discolored water. Something black washed to
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and fro beside the splintered gaff, in the tangle of halliards.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: It was the outrageous ensign, and near it a scarb
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: of cap was floating. He was a villain, but he
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: was a Briton, said the captain. At last he lived
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: like a dog, but by God he died like a man.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: En up for five