Transcript

038 - Chapter 16 · Pirate

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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of the Pirate by Sir Walter Scott. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Dion
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Speaker 1: Jians Salt Lake City, Utah. Clap on more sail, pursue
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Speaker 1: up with your fights, give fire, she is my prize,
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Speaker 1: or ocean, whelm them all Shakespeare. A very handsome brig which,
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Speaker 1: with several other vessels, was the property of Magnus Troil,
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Speaker 1: the great Zeteland. You Dollar had received on board that
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Speaker 1: Magnate himself, his two lovely daughters, and the facetious Claude Hulcrow, who,
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Speaker 1: for friendship's sake chiefly and the love of beauty proper
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Speaker 1: to his poetical calling, attended them on their journey from
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Speaker 1: Zetland to the capital of Orkney, to which Norna had
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Speaker 1: referred them as the pl where her mystical oracles should
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Speaker 1: at length receive a satisfactory explanation. They passed at a
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Speaker 1: distance the tremendous cliffs of the lonely spot of Earth
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Speaker 1: called the fair Isle, which, at an equal distance from
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Speaker 1: either archipelago, lies in the sea which divides Orkney from Zetland,
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Speaker 1: And at length, after some baffling winds made the start
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Speaker 1: of Sunda. Off the headland so named, they became involved
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Speaker 1: in a strong current, well known by those who frequent
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Speaker 1: these seas as the roost of the start, which carried
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Speaker 1: them considerably out of their course and joined to an
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Speaker 1: adverse wind, forced them to keep on the east side
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Speaker 1: of the island of Stranza, and finally compel them to
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Speaker 1: lie by for the night in Papa Sound, since the
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Speaker 1: navigation in dark or thick weather amongst so many low
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Speaker 1: islands is neither pleasant nor safe. On the ensuing morning,
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Speaker 1: they resumed their voyage under more favorable auspices, and coasting
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Speaker 1: along the island of Stranza, whose flat, verdant and comparatively
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Speaker 1: fertile shores formed a strong contrast to the dun hills
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Speaker 1: and dark cliffs of their own islands. They doubled the
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Speaker 1: cape called the Lamb Head and stood away for Kirkwall.
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Speaker 1: They had scarce opened the beautiful bay betwixt Pomona and Choppinshaw,
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Speaker 1: and the sisters were admiring the massive Church of Saint
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Speaker 1: Magnus as it was first seen to rise from amongst
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Speaker 1: the inferior buildings of Kirkwall. When the eyes of Magnus
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Speaker 1: and of Claude Hulcrow were attracted by an object which
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Speaker 1: they thought more interesting. This was armed sloop with her
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Speaker 1: sail set, which had just left the anchorage in the bay,
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Speaker 1: and was running before the wind, by which the brig
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Speaker 1: of the You Dollar was beating in a tight thing
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Speaker 1: that by my ancestor's bones, said the old you Dollar.
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Speaker 1: But I cannot make out of what country, as she
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Speaker 1: shows no colors Spanish built. I should think her aye aye,
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Speaker 1: said Claude Holcrow. She has all the look of it.
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Speaker 1: She runs before the wind that we must battle with,
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Speaker 1: which is the wonted way of the world, as glorious
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Speaker 1: John says, with roomy deck and guns of mighty strength,
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Speaker 1: whose low laid mouths each mounting billow laughs deep in
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Speaker 1: her draft and warlike in her length, she seems a
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Speaker 1: sea wasp flying on the waves. Brenda could not help
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Speaker 1: telling Holcrow, when he had spouted this stanza with great enthusiasm,
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Speaker 1: that though the description was more like a first rate
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Speaker 1: than a sloop, yet the simile of the sea wasp
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Speaker 1: served but indifferently for either a sea wasp, said Magnus,
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Speaker 1: looking with some surprise as the sloop, shifting her course,
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Speaker 1: suddenly bore down on them egad, I wish she may
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Speaker 1: not show us presently that she has a sting. What
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Speaker 1: the U dollars said in jest was fulfilled in earnest,
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Speaker 1: for without hoisting colors or hailing, two shots were discharged
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Speaker 1: from the sloop, one of which ran dipping and dancing
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Speaker 1: upon the water just ahead of the zetelander's bows, while
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Speaker 1: the other went through his mainsail. Magnus caught up a
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Speaker 1: speaking trumpet and hailed the sloop to demand what she
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Speaker 1: was and what was the meaning of this provoked aggression.
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Speaker 1: He was only answered by the stern command down top
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Speaker 1: sails instantly, and lay your main sail to the mast.
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Speaker 1: You shall see who we are presently. There were no
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Speaker 1: means within the reach of possibility by which obedience could
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Speaker 1: be evaded, where it would instantly have been enforced by
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Speaker 1: a broadside, And with much fear on the part of
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Speaker 1: the sisters and Claude Holcrow, mixed with anger and astonishment
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Speaker 1: on that of the U Dollar, the brig lay two
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Speaker 1: to await the commands of the captors. The sloop immediately
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Speaker 1: lowered abode with six armed hands, commanded by Jack Bunch,
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Speaker 1: which rode directly for their prize. As they approached her,
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Speaker 1: Claude Holcrow whispered to the U dollar if what we
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Speaker 1: hear of buccaneers be true, these men, with their silk
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Speaker 1: scarves and vests have the very of them My daughters,
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Speaker 1: my daughters, muttered Magnus to himself, with such an agony
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Speaker 1: as only a father could feel. Go down below and
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Speaker 1: hide yourselves, girls, while I he threw down his speaking
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Speaker 1: trumpet and seized on a handspike. While his daughter's, more
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Speaker 1: afraid of the consequences of his fiery temper to himself
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Speaker 1: than of anything else, hung round him and begged him
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Speaker 1: to make no resistance. Klaude Holcrow united his entreaties, added,
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Speaker 1: it were best pacify the fellows with fair words. They might,
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Speaker 1: he said, be dunkirkers or insolent man of war's men
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Speaker 1: on a frolic. No, no, answered Magnus. It is the
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Speaker 1: sloop which the jagger told us of that I will
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Speaker 1: take your advice. I will have patience for these girl's sakes.
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Speaker 1: Yet he had no time to conclude the sentence, for
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Speaker 1: Bunch jumped on board with his party, and, drawing his cutless,
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Speaker 1: struck it upon the companion ladder and declared the ship
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Speaker 1: was theirs. By what warrant or authority do you stop
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Speaker 1: us on the high seas? Said Magnus. Here are half
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Speaker 1: a dozen of warrants, said Bunch, showing the pistols which
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Speaker 1: were hung round him, according to a pirate fashion already mentioned.
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Speaker 1: Choose which you like, old gentleman, and you shall have
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Speaker 1: the perusal of it presently. That is to say, you
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Speaker 1: intend to rob us, said Magnus, So be it. We
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Speaker 1: have no means to help it. Only be civil to
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Speaker 1: the women, and take what you please from the vessel.
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Speaker 1: There is not much, but I will and can make
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Speaker 1: it worth more if you use us well. Civil to
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Speaker 1: the women, said Fletcher, who also had come on board
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Speaker 1: with the gang. When were we less than civil to them?
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Speaker 1: Ay am kind to boot Look here, Jack Bunch, what
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Speaker 1: a trim going little thing here is? By God, she
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Speaker 1: shall make a cruise with us some of the old
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Speaker 1: square toes. What will? He seized upon the terrified Brenda
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Speaker 1: with one hand and insolently pulled back with the other
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Speaker 1: the hood of the mantle in which she had muffled herself. Help, Father, Help, Menna,
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Speaker 1: exclaimed the affrighted girl, unconscious at the moment, that they
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Speaker 1: were unable to render her assistance. Magnus again uplifted the handspike,
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Speaker 1: but Bunch stopped his hand a vast father, he said,
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Speaker 1: or you will make a bad voyage of it presently,
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Speaker 1: and you, Fletcher, let go the girl, and damn me.
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Speaker 1: Why should I let her go, said Fletcher? Because I
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Speaker 1: command you, Dick, said the other, And because I'll make
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Speaker 1: it a quarrel else. And now let me know, beauties,
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Speaker 1: is there one of you bears that queer heathen name
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Speaker 1: of Minna, for which I have a certain sort of regard? Gallant, sir,
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Speaker 1: said Holcrow. Unquestionably, it is because you have some poetry
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Speaker 1: in your heart. I have had enough of it in
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Speaker 1: my mouth in my time, answered Bunch. But that day
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Speaker 1: is by old gentleman. However, I shall soon find out
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Speaker 1: which of these girls is Minna. Throw back your mufflings
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Speaker 1: from your faces. And don't be afraid, my Linda Maris.
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Speaker 1: No one here shall meddle with you to do you
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Speaker 1: wrong on my soul. Two pretty wenches, I wish I
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Speaker 1: were at sea in an eggshell and a rock under
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Speaker 1: my lee bow. If I would wish a be better
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Speaker 1: league or less than the worst of them, Hark you,
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Speaker 1: my girls, which of you would like to swing in
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Speaker 1: a rover's hammock. You should have gold for the gathering.
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Speaker 1: The terrified maidens clung close together and grew pale at
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Speaker 1: the bold and familiar language of the desperate libertine. Nay,
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Speaker 1: don't be frightened, said he. No one shall serve under
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Speaker 1: the noble Altamont, but by her own free choice. There
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Speaker 1: is no pressing amongst gentlemen of fortune. And do not
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Speaker 1: look so shy upon me, neither, as if I spoke
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Speaker 1: of what you never thought of before. One of you
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Speaker 1: at least has heard of Captain Cleveland. The rover Brenda
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Speaker 1: grew still paler, but the blood mounted at once in
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Speaker 1: Mena's cheeks on hearing the name of her lover thus
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Speaker 1: unexpectedly introduced. For the scene was in itself so confounding
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Speaker 1: that the idea of the vessels being the consort of
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Speaker 1: which Cleveland had spoken at Burgwestra had occurred to no
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Speaker 1: one save the U Dollar. I see how it is,
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Speaker 1: said Bunch, with a familiar nod, and I will hold
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Speaker 1: my course accordingly. You need not be afraid of any injury, father,
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Speaker 1: he added, addressing Magnus familiarly and though I have made
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Speaker 1: many a pretty girl pay tribute in my time, yet
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Speaker 1: yours shall go ashore without either wrong or ransom. If
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Speaker 1: you will assure me of that, said Magnus, you are
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Speaker 1: as welcome to the brig and cargo as ever I
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Speaker 1: made man welcome to a can of punch. And it
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Speaker 1: is no bad thing that same can of punch, said Bunch.
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Speaker 1: If we had anyone here that could mix it, well,
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Speaker 1: I will do it, said Claude Holcrow, with any man
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Speaker 1: that ever squeezed lemon, Eric Scambuster, the punch maker of
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Speaker 1: Burgwestra being alone excepted, and you are within a grapnel's
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Speaker 1: length of him too, said the eu Dollar. Go down below,
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Speaker 1: my girls, he added, and send up the rare old
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Speaker 1: man and the punch bowl. The punch bowl, said Fletcher.
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Speaker 1: I say the bucket damn me talk of bulls in
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Speaker 1: the cabin of a paltry merchantman. But not too gentlemen strollers,
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Speaker 1: rovers I would say, correcting himself as he observed that
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Speaker 1: Bunch looked sour at the mistake. And I say, these
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Speaker 1: two pretty girls shall stay on deck and fill my can,
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Speaker 1: said Bunch. I deserve some attendants, at least for all
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Speaker 1: my generosity, and they shall fill mine too, said Fletcher.
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Speaker 1: They shall fill it to the brim, and I will
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Speaker 1: have a kiss for every drop they spill broil me
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Speaker 1: if I won't. Why then I tell you shan't, said Bunch,
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Speaker 1: For I'll be damned if anyone shall kiss Minna but one,
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Speaker 1: and that's neither you nor I and her other little
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Speaker 1: bit of a consort shall escape for company. There are
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Speaker 1: plenty of willing wunches in Orkney, and so now I
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Speaker 1: think on it, these girls shall go down below and
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Speaker 1: boat themselves into the cabin, and we shall have the
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Speaker 1: punch up here on deck al Fresco, as the old
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Speaker 1: gentleman proposes. Why, Jack, I wish you knew your own mind,
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Speaker 1: said Fletcher. I have been your messmate these two years,
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Speaker 1: and I love you, and yet flame me like a
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Speaker 1: wild bullock if you have not as many humors as
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Speaker 1: a monkey. And what shall we have to make a
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Speaker 1: little fun of? Since you have sent the girls down below,
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Speaker 1: Why we will have master punch maker here, answered Bunch,
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Speaker 1: to give us toasts and sing us songs. And in
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Speaker 1: the meantime, you there stand by sheets and tacks and
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Speaker 1: get her under weigh, and you steersman, as you would
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Speaker 1: keep your brains in your skull, keep her under the
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Speaker 1: stern of the sloop. If you attempt to play us
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Speaker 1: any trick, I will scuttle your scance as if it
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Speaker 1: were an old calabash. The vessel was accordingly got underweigh
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Speaker 1: and moved slowly on in the wake of the sloop, which,
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Speaker 1: as had been previously agreed upon, held her course not
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Speaker 1: to return to the Bay of Kirkwall, but for an
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Speaker 1: excellent roadstead called Inganess Bay, formed by a promontory which
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Speaker 1: extends to the eastward to Or the three miles from
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Speaker 1: the Orcadian metropolis, and where the vessels might conveniently lie
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Speaker 1: at anchor, while the rovers maintained any communication with the magistrates,
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Speaker 1: which the new state of things seemed to require. Meantime,
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Speaker 1: Claude Holcrow had exerted his utmost talents in compounding a
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Speaker 1: bucketful of punch for the use of the pirates, which
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Speaker 1: they drank out of large cans, The ordinary seamen, as
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Speaker 1: well as Bunch and Fletcher, who acted as officers, dipping
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Speaker 1: them into the bucket with very little ceremony as they
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Speaker 1: came and went upon their duty. Madness, who was particularly
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Speaker 1: apprehensive that liquor might awaken the brutal passions of these desperadoes,
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Speaker 1: was yet so much astonished at the quantities which he
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Speaker 1: saw them drink without producing any visible effect upon their reason,
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Speaker 1: that he could not help expressing his surprise to Bunch himself,
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Speaker 1: who wild as he was, yet appeared by far the
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Speaker 1: most civil and conversible of his party, and whom he
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Speaker 1: was perhaps desirous to conciliate by a compliment of which
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Speaker 1: all boon toppers know the value bones of Saint Magnus,
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Speaker 1: said the eu Dollar. I used to think I took
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Speaker 1: off my can like a gentleman. But to see your
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Speaker 1: men swallow, Captain, one would think their stomachs were as
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Speaker 1: bottomless as the whole of Layeful in Fola, which I
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Speaker 1: have sounded myself with a line of an hundred fathoms.
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Speaker 1: By my soul, the vicker of Saint Magnus were but
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Speaker 1: a sip to them. In our way of life, Sir,
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Speaker 1: answered Bunch, there is no stint till duty calls where
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Speaker 1: the puncheon is drunk out. By my words, Sir, said
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Speaker 1: Claude Holcrow, I believe there is not one of your
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Speaker 1: people but could drink out the mickel Bicker of Scarpa,
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Speaker 1: which was always offered to the Bishop of Orkney, brim
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Speaker 1: full of the best bummock that was ever brewed. If
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Speaker 1: drinking could make them bishops, said Bunch, I should have
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Speaker 1: a reverend crew of them. But as they have no
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Speaker 1: other clerical qualities about them, I do not propose that
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Speaker 1: they shall get drunk to day. So we will cut
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Speaker 1: our drink with a song, and I'll sing it by,
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Speaker 1: said or swore Dick Fletcher, and instantly struck up the
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Speaker 1: old ditty. It was a ship, and a ship of fame,
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Speaker 1: launched off the stalks, bound for the main, with an
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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty brisk young men, all picked and chosen
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Speaker 1: every one. I would sooner be keel hauled than hear
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Speaker 1: that song over again, said Bunch. And confound your lantern jaws.
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Speaker 1: You can squeeze nothing else out of them. By, said Fletcher,
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Speaker 1: I will sing my song, whether you like it or no.
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Speaker 1: And again he sung, with the doleful tone of a northeaster,
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Speaker 1: whistling through sheet and shrouds. Captain Glen was our captain's name,
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Speaker 1: A very gallant and brisk young man, as bold as
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Speaker 1: sailor as ever went to sea, and we were bound
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Speaker 1: for high Barbary. I tell you again, said Bunch. We
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Speaker 1: will have none of your screech owl music here, and
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Speaker 1: I'll be damned if you shall sit here and make
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Speaker 1: that infernal noise. Why then, I'll tell you what, said Fletcher,
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Speaker 1: getting up. I'll sing when I walk about, and I
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Speaker 1: hope there is no harm in that, jack Bunch. And so,
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Speaker 1: getting up from his seat, he began to walk up
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Speaker 1: and down the sloop, croaking out his long and disastrous ballad.
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Speaker 1: You see how I manage them, said Bunch, with a
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Speaker 1: smile of self applause. Allow that fellow two strides on
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Speaker 1: his own way, and you make a mutineer of him
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Speaker 1: for life. But I tie him strict up, and he
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Speaker 1: follows me as kindly as a fowler's spaniel after he
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Speaker 1: has got a good beating. And now your toast and
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Speaker 1: your song, sir, addressing Holcrow, or rather your song without
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Speaker 1: your toast, I have got a toast for myself. Here
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Speaker 1: is success to all roving blades, and confusion to all
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Speaker 1: honest men. I should be sorry to drink that toast
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Speaker 1: if I could help it, said Magnus Troyal. What you
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Speaker 1: reckon yourself one of the honest folks, I warrant, said, Bunch.
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Speaker 1: Tell me your trade and I'll tell you what I
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Speaker 1: think of it. As for the punch maker here, I
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Speaker 1: knew him at first glance to be a tailor, who
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Speaker 1: has therefore no more pretensions to be honest than he
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Speaker 1: has not to be mangy. But you are some high
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Speaker 1: Dutch skipper, I warrant me that tramples on the cross
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Speaker 1: when he is in Japan and denies his religion for
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Speaker 1: a day's gain. No, replied the you Dollar. I am
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Speaker 1: a gentleman of Zeteland. Oh what, retorted the satirical mister Bunch.
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Speaker 1: You are come from the happy climate, where gin is
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Speaker 1: a groat a bottle, and where there is daylight forever.
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Speaker 1: At your service, captain, said the you Dollar, suppressing with
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Speaker 1: much pain some position to resent these jests on his country,
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Speaker 1: although under every risk and at all disadvantage. At my service,
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Speaker 1: said Bunch. I, if there was a rope stretched from
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Speaker 1: the wreck to the beach, you would be at my
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Speaker 1: service to cut the hauser, make floatsome and jutsam of
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Speaker 1: ship and cargo. And well, if you did not give
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Speaker 1: me a rap on the head with the back of
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Speaker 1: the cutty axe, and you call yourself honest. But never mind,
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Speaker 1: here goes the aforesaid toast. And do you sing me
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Speaker 1: a song, mister fashioner, and look at be as good
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Speaker 1: as your punch. Hull Crow, internally praying for the powers
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Speaker 1: of a new Timotheus to turn his strain and check
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Speaker 1: his auditor's pride as glorious John had it began a
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Speaker 1: heart soothing ditty with the following line Maidens fresh as
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Speaker 1: fairest Rose listened to this lay of mine, I will
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Speaker 1: hear nothing of maidens or Roses, said bunch. It puts
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Speaker 1: me in mind what sort of a cargo we have
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Speaker 1: on board, And by I will be true to my
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Speaker 1: messmate and my captain as long as I can. And
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Speaker 1: now I think on it, I'll have no more punch either.
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Speaker 1: That last coup made innovation, and I am not to
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Speaker 1: play Cassio tonight. And if I drink not nobody else
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Speaker 1: shall so. Saying he manfully kicked over the bucket, which,
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Speaker 1: notwithstanding the repeated applications made to it, was still half full,
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Speaker 1: got up from his seat, shook himself a little to
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Speaker 1: rights as he expressed it, cocked his hat and walking
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Speaker 1: the quarter deck, with an air of dignity, gave by
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Speaker 1: word and signal the orders for bringing the ships to anchor,
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Speaker 1: which were readily obeyed by both goff being then in
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Speaker 1: all probability passed any rational state of interference. The u Dollar,
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Speaker 1: in the meantime, condoled with Hulcrow on their situation. It
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Speaker 1: is bad enough, said the tough old Norseman, for these
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Speaker 1: are rank rogues. And yet were it not for the girls,
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Speaker 1: I should not fear them. That young vaporing fellow who
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Speaker 1: seems to command is not such a born devil as
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Speaker 1: he might have been. He has queer humors, though, said Holcrow,
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Speaker 1: and I wish we were loose from him, to kick
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Speaker 1: down a bucket half full of the best punch ever
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Speaker 1: was made, and to cut me short in the sweetest
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Speaker 1: song I ever wrote. I promise you I do not
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Speaker 1: know what he may do next. It is next door
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Speaker 1: to madness. Meanwhile, the ship's being brought to anchor, the
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Speaker 1: valiant Lieutenant Bunch called upon Fletcher, and, resuming his seat
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Speaker 1: by his unwilling passengers, he told them they should see
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Speaker 1: what message he was about to send to the widows
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Speaker 1: of Kirkwall, as they were something concerned in it. It
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Speaker 1: shall run in Dick's name, he said, as well as
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Speaker 1: in mine. I love to give the poor young fellow
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Speaker 1: a little countenance now and then, don't I, Dick, you
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Speaker 1: damned stupid ass. Why yes, Jack, Bunch said Dick. I
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Speaker 1: can't say, but as you do only you are always
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Speaker 1: bullocking one about something or other too. But howsome endeavor?
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Speaker 1: Do ye? See? Enough? Said belay your jaw, Dick, said Bunch,
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Speaker 1: and proceeded to write his epistle, which, being read aloud,
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Speaker 1: proved to be of the following tenor For the Mayor
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Speaker 1: and aldermen of Kirkwall. Gentlemen, as contrary to your good
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Speaker 1: faith given you have not sent us on board a
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Speaker 1: hostage for the safety of our captain remaining on shore
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Speaker 1: at your request. These come to tell you we are
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Speaker 1: not thus to be trifled with. We have already in
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Speaker 1: our possession a brig with a family of distinction, its
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Speaker 1: owners and passengers. And as you deal with our captain,
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Speaker 1: so will we deal with them in every respect. And
25:35
Speaker 1: as this is the first, so assure yourself it shall
25:39
Speaker 1: not be the last damage which we will do to
25:43
Speaker 1: your town and trade. If you do not send on
25:46
Speaker 1: board our captain and supply us with stores according to
25:51
Speaker 1: treaty given on board the brig Murgoose of Burgwestra lying
25:57
Speaker 1: in Inganes Bay. Witness are hands commanders of the fortune's
26:02
Speaker 1: favorite and gentlemen adventurers. He then subscribed himself Frederick Altamont,
26:09
Speaker 1: and handed the letter to Fletcher, who read the said
26:12
Speaker 1: subscription with much difficulty, and, admiring the sound of it
26:17
Speaker 1: very much, swore he would have a new name himself,
26:22
Speaker 1: and the rather that Fletcher was the most crabbed word
26:26
Speaker 1: to spell, and monster he believed in the whole dictionary.
26:31
Speaker 1: He subscribed himself accordingly, Timothy Tugmutton, Will you not add
26:37
Speaker 1: a few lines to the coxcombs, said Bunch, addressing madness,
26:42
Speaker 1: not I returned the u dollar, stubborn in his ideas
26:46
Speaker 1: of right and wrong, even in so formidable an emergency.
26:51
Speaker 1: The magistrates of Kirkwall know their duty, and were I
26:55
Speaker 1: they but hear the recollection that his daughters were at
26:59
Speaker 1: the mercy of these ruffians. Blanked the bold visage of
27:03
Speaker 1: Magnus Troil and checked the defiance which was just about
27:08
Speaker 1: to issue from his lips. Damn me, said Bunch, who
27:13
Speaker 1: easily conjectured what was passing in the mind of his prisoner.
27:17
Speaker 1: That pause would have told well, on this stage it
27:21
Speaker 1: would have brought down pit box and gallery e gad
27:26
Speaker 1: as Bays has it. I will hear nothing of Bays,
27:30
Speaker 1: said Claude Holcrow himself, a little elevated. It is an
27:35
Speaker 1: impudent satire on glorious John that he tickled Buckingham off
27:41
Speaker 1: for it in the first rank of these? Did Zimri
27:45
Speaker 1: stand a man so various? Hold your piece, said Bunch,
27:50
Speaker 1: drowning the voice of the admirer of Dryden in louder
27:54
Speaker 1: and more vehement as severation, the rehearsal is the best
27:58
Speaker 1: farce ever written. And I'll make him kiss the gunner's
28:03
Speaker 1: daughter that denies it. Damn me. I was the best
28:08
Speaker 1: prince prettyman ever walked the boards, sometimes a fisher's son,
28:14
Speaker 1: sometimes a prince. But let us to business. Harky, old gentleman,
28:20
Speaker 1: to magnus, you have a sort of sulkiness about you,
28:24
Speaker 1: for which some of my profession would cut your ears
28:28
Speaker 1: out of your head and broil them for dinner with
28:31
Speaker 1: red pepper. I have known golf do so to a
28:35
Speaker 1: poor devil for looking sour and dangerous when he saw
28:39
Speaker 1: his sleut go to Davy Jones's locker with his only
28:43
Speaker 1: son on board. But I'm a spirit of another sort,
28:48
Speaker 1: and if you or the ladies are ill used, it
28:51
Speaker 1: shall be the Kirkwall people's fault and not mine. And
28:55
Speaker 1: that's fair. And so you had better let them know
28:59
Speaker 1: your condition and your circumstances and so forth, and that's
29:04
Speaker 1: fair too. Madness, thus exhorted, took up the pen and
29:09
Speaker 1: attempted to write, but his high spirit so struggled with
29:13
Speaker 1: his paternal anxiety that his hand refused its office. I
29:19
Speaker 1: cannot help it, he said, after one or two illegible
29:23
Speaker 1: attempts to write. I cannot form a letter if all
29:27
Speaker 1: our lives depended upon it. And he could not, with
29:32
Speaker 1: his utmost efforts to suppress the convulsive emotions which he experienced,
29:39
Speaker 1: but that they agitated his whole frame. The willow, which
29:43
Speaker 1: bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak
29:47
Speaker 1: which resists it, and so in great calamities it sometimes
29:52
Speaker 1: happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and
29:58
Speaker 1: presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
30:03
Speaker 1: In the present case, Claude Halcrow was fortunately able to
30:08
Speaker 1: perform the task which the deeper feelings of his friend
30:12
Speaker 1: and patron refused. He took the pen and, in as
30:16
Speaker 1: few words as possible, explained the situation in which they
30:20
Speaker 1: were placed and the cruel risks to which they were exposed,
30:25
Speaker 1: insinuating at the same time, as delicately as he could
30:30
Speaker 1: express it, that to the magistrates of the country, the
30:34
Speaker 1: life and honor of its citizens should be a dearer
30:38
Speaker 1: object than even the apprehension or punishment of the guilty.
30:44
Speaker 1: Taking care, however, to qualify the last expression as much
30:48
Speaker 1: as possible, for fear of giving umbrage to the pirates,
30:53
Speaker 1: Bunch read over the letter, which fortunately met his approbation, and,
30:58
Speaker 1: on seeing the name of Cloe Holcrow at the bottom,
31:02
Speaker 1: he exclaimed, in great surprise, and with more energetic expressions
31:07
Speaker 1: of a severation than we chose to record, why you
31:11
Speaker 1: are the little fellow that played the fiddle to old
31:15
Speaker 1: Manager Gadabout's company at hogs Norton the first season. I
31:20
Speaker 1: came out there, I thought I knew your catchword of
31:24
Speaker 1: glorious John. At another time this recognition might not have
31:30
Speaker 1: been very grateful to Holcrow's minstrel pride, but as matters
31:35
Speaker 1: stood with him, the discovery of a golden mine could
31:39
Speaker 1: not have made him more happy. He instantly remembered the
31:44
Speaker 1: very hopeful young performer who came out in Don Sebastian,
31:49
Speaker 1: and judiciously added that the muse of Glorious John had
31:54
Speaker 1: never received such excellent support during the time that he
31:59
Speaker 1: was first. He might have added, and only violin to
32:03
Speaker 1: mister Gadabout's company. Why, yes, said Bunch, I believe you
32:09
Speaker 1: are right. I think I might have shaken the scene
32:12
Speaker 1: as well as Booth or Betterton either. But I was
32:17
Speaker 1: destined to figure on other boards, striking his foot upon
32:21
Speaker 1: the deck, and I believe I must stick by them
32:25
Speaker 1: till I find no board at all to support me.
32:30
Speaker 1: But now, old acquaintance, I will do something for you.
32:34
Speaker 1: Slew yourself this way a bit, I would have you solace.
32:38
Speaker 1: They leaned over the taffrail while Bunch whispered with more
32:43
Speaker 1: seriousness than he usually showed. I am sorry for this,
32:47
Speaker 1: honest old heart of Norway. Pine blight me if I
32:52
Speaker 1: am not, and for the daughters too. Besides, I have
32:56
Speaker 1: my own reasons for befriending one of them. I can
33:00
Speaker 1: be a wild fellow with a willing lass of the game.
33:04
Speaker 1: But to such decent and innocent creatures, damn me. I
33:09
Speaker 1: am Scipio at Numantia and Alexander in the tent of Darius.
33:15
Speaker 1: You remember how I touch off Alexander here he started
33:19
Speaker 1: into heroics. Thus from the grave, I rise to save
33:24
Speaker 1: my love. I'll draw your swords with wings of lightning.
33:28
Speaker 1: Move when I rush on, Sure none will dare to stay.
33:34
Speaker 1: Tis beauty calls and glory shows the way. Claudehalcrow failed
33:39
Speaker 1: not to bestow the necessary commendations on his declamation, declaring that,
33:46
Speaker 1: in his opinion, as an honest man, he had always
33:50
Speaker 1: thought mister Altamont's giving that speech far superior in tone
33:55
Speaker 1: and energy to Betterton Bunch or Altamont rung his hand tenderly. Ah,
34:02
Speaker 1: you flatter me, my dear friend, he said, Yet why
34:06
Speaker 1: had not the public sum of your judgment? I should
34:10
Speaker 1: not then have been at this pass. Heaven knows, my
34:14
Speaker 1: dear mister Hollcrow. Heaven knows with what pleasure I could
34:18
Speaker 1: keep you on board with me, just that I might
34:22
Speaker 1: have one friend who loves as much to hear as
34:26
Speaker 1: I do, to recite the choicest pieces of our finest
34:31
Speaker 1: dramatic authors. The most of us are beasts. And for
34:35
Speaker 1: the kirkwhill hostage yonder. He uses me egad as I
34:40
Speaker 1: use Fletcher, I think, and huffs me. The more the
34:44
Speaker 1: more I do for him. But how delightful it would
34:48
Speaker 1: be in a tropic night, when the ship was hanging
34:52
Speaker 1: on the breeze with a broad and steady sail, for
34:56
Speaker 1: me to rehearse Alexander with you for my pit box
35:01
Speaker 1: and gallery. Nay, for you are a follower of the muses,
35:05
Speaker 1: as I remember, who knows but you and I might
35:09
Speaker 1: be the means of inspiring, like Orpheus and Eurydicy, a
35:15
Speaker 1: pure taste into our companions, and softening their manners while
35:20
Speaker 1: we excited their better feelings. This was spoken with so
35:25
Speaker 1: much unction that Claude Holcrow began to be afraid he
35:29
Speaker 1: had both made the actual punch over potent and mixed
35:35
Speaker 1: too many bewitching ingredients in the cop of flattery which
35:39
Speaker 1: he had administered, and that under the influence of both potions,
35:45
Speaker 1: the sentimental pirate might detain him by force merely to
35:50
Speaker 1: realize the scenes which his imagination presented. The conjuncture was, however,
35:56
Speaker 1: too delicate to admit of any active effort on Halcrow's
36:00
Speaker 1: part to redeem his blunder, and therefore he only returned
36:05
Speaker 1: the tender pressure of his friend's hand and uttered the
36:09
Speaker 1: interjection alas in as pathetic a tone as he could.
36:15
Speaker 1: Bunch immediately resumed, you are right, my friend. These are
36:20
Speaker 1: but vain visions of felicity, and it remains but for
36:24
Speaker 1: the unhappy Altamont to serve the friend to whom he
36:28
Speaker 1: is now to bid farewell. I have determined to put
36:32
Speaker 1: you and the two girls ashore with Fletcher for your protection.
36:37
Speaker 1: And so call up the young women and let them
36:40
Speaker 1: be gone before the devil get aboard of me or
36:44
Speaker 1: of someone else. You will carry my letter to the
36:48
Speaker 1: magistrates and second it with your own eloquence, and assure
36:52
Speaker 1: them that if they hurt but one hair of Cleveland's head,
36:56
Speaker 1: there will be the devil to pay. And no hot
37:01
Speaker 1: relieved at heart by this unexpected termination of Bunches Harangue,
37:06
Speaker 1: hal Crow descended the companion ladder two steps at a time,
37:11
Speaker 1: and knocking at the cabin door, could Scarce find intelligible
37:16
Speaker 1: language enough to say his errand the sisters, hearing with
37:20
Speaker 1: unexpected joy, that they were to be set ashore, muffled
37:25
Speaker 1: themselves in their cloaks, and when they learned that the
37:29
Speaker 1: boat was hoisted out, came hastily on deck, where they
37:33
Speaker 1: were apprized for the first time, to their great horror
37:38
Speaker 1: that their father was still to remain on board of
37:41
Speaker 1: the pirate. We will remain with him at every risk,
37:45
Speaker 1: said Menna. We may be of some assistance to him,
37:49
Speaker 1: were it but for an instant. We will live and
37:52
Speaker 1: die with him. We shall aid him more surely, said Brenda,
37:57
Speaker 1: who comprehended the nature of their situation better than Minna.
38:02
Speaker 1: By interesting the people of Kirkwall to grant these gentlemen's demands,
38:08
Speaker 1: spoken like an angel of sense and beauty, said Bunch.
38:12
Speaker 1: And now away with you. For damn me, if this
38:16
Speaker 1: is not like having a lighted linstock in the powder room.
38:20
Speaker 1: If you speak another word, more confound me. If I
38:25
Speaker 1: know how I shall bring myself to part with you.
38:29
Speaker 1: Go in God's name, my daughters, said Magnus. I am
38:33
Speaker 1: in God's hand, and when you are gone, I shall
38:37
Speaker 1: care little for myself, and I shall think and say,
38:41
Speaker 1: as long as I live, that this good gentleman deserves
38:46
Speaker 1: a better trade. Go go away with you, for they
38:51
Speaker 1: yet lingered in reluctance to leave him. Stay not to kiss,
38:55
Speaker 1: said Bunch, for fear I be tempted to ask my
38:59
Speaker 1: shapes into the boat with you. Yet drunk, yet stop
39:04
Speaker 1: an instant, he drew the three captives apart. Fletcher said
39:09
Speaker 1: he will answer for the rest of the fellows, and
39:12
Speaker 1: will see you safe off the sea beach. But how
39:16
Speaker 1: to answer for Fletcher, I know not, except by trusting
39:21
Speaker 1: mister Holcrow with this little guarantee. He offered the Minstrel,
39:26
Speaker 1: a small double barreled pistol, which he said was loaded
39:30
Speaker 1: with a brace of balls. Minna observed Holcrow's hand tremble
39:35
Speaker 1: as he stretched it out to take the weapon. Give
39:38
Speaker 1: it to me, sir, she said, taking it from the outlaw,
39:42
Speaker 1: and trust to me for defending my sister and myself. Bravo, bravo,
39:49
Speaker 1: shouted Bunch. There spoke a wench worthy of Cleveland, the
39:54
Speaker 1: king of rovers Cleveland, repeated Minna, Do you then know
40:00
Speaker 1: that Cleveland, whom you have twice named, know him? Is
40:05
Speaker 1: there a man alive, said Bunch, that knows better than
40:09
Speaker 1: I do. The best and stoutest fellow ever stepped betwixt
40:13
Speaker 1: stem and stern when he is out of the Bilbos,
40:18
Speaker 1: as please Heaven, he shall soon be. I reckon to
40:21
Speaker 1: see you come on board of us and rein the
40:25
Speaker 1: queen of every sea we sail over. You have got
40:29
Speaker 1: the little guardian. I suppose you know how to use it.
40:33
Speaker 1: If Fletcher behaves ill to you, you need only draw
40:37
Speaker 1: up this piece of iron with your thumb so, and
40:41
Speaker 1: if he persists, it is but crooking your pretty forefinger. Thus,
40:46
Speaker 1: and I shall lose the most dutiful messmate that ever
40:50
Speaker 1: man had, Though damn the dog, he will deserve his
40:54
Speaker 1: death if he disobeys my orders. And now into the boat,
41:00
Speaker 1: but stay one kiss for Cleveland's sake. Brenda, in deadly terror,
41:06
Speaker 1: endured his courtesy, but Minna, stepping back with disdain, offered
41:11
Speaker 1: her hand. Bunch laughed, but kissed with a theatrical air
41:17
Speaker 1: the fair hand, which she extended as a ransom for
41:20
Speaker 1: her lips. And at length the sisters and Halcrow were
41:24
Speaker 1: placed in the boat, which rode off under Fletcher's command.
41:29
Speaker 1: Bunch stood on the quarter deck soliloquizing after the manner
41:34
Speaker 1: of his original profession. Were this told at Port Royal
41:38
Speaker 1: now or at the Isle of Providence, or in the
41:42
Speaker 1: pattis Guaves. I wonder what they would say of me,
41:47
Speaker 1: why that I was a good natured milksop, a jacculant
41:52
Speaker 1: an ass. Well, let them I have done enough of
41:56
Speaker 1: bad to think about it. It is worth while doing
42:00
Speaker 1: one good action, if it were, but for the rarity
42:03
Speaker 1: of the thing, and to put one in good humor
42:07
Speaker 1: with oneself. Then, turning to Magnus Troyle, he proceeded by
42:13
Speaker 1: these are bona robis, These daughters of yours. The eldest
42:18
Speaker 1: would make her fortune on the London boards. What a
42:21
Speaker 1: dashing attitude the wench had with her as she seized
42:26
Speaker 1: the pistol. Damn me, that touch would have brought the
42:30
Speaker 1: house down. What a rock salana the jade would have
42:34
Speaker 1: made for In his oratory bunch like Sancho's gossip, Thomas
42:40
Speaker 1: Cecil was apt to use the most energetic word which
42:45
Speaker 1: came to hand, without accurately considering its propriety. I would
42:50
Speaker 1: give my share of the next prize, but to hear
42:53
Speaker 1: her spout away, be gone and give a whirlwind room,
42:59
Speaker 1: or I will blow you up like dust. A vant madness,
43:04
Speaker 1: but meanly represents my rage. And then again that little soft,
43:10
Speaker 1: shy tearful trembler for Satira to hear her recite. He
43:16
Speaker 1: speaks the kindest words, and looks such things, vows with
43:21
Speaker 1: such passion, swears with so much grace that 'tis a
43:26
Speaker 1: kind of heaven to be deluded by him? What a
43:30
Speaker 1: play we might have run up. I was a beast
43:33
Speaker 1: not to think of it before I sent them off.
43:37
Speaker 1: I to be Alexander Claude Holcrow Lysimachus, this old gentleman
43:43
Speaker 1: might have made a clitis for a pinch. I was
43:47
Speaker 1: an idiot not to think of it. There was much
43:51
Speaker 1: in this effusion which might have displeased the u Dollar,
43:55
Speaker 1: But to speak truth, he paid no attention to it.
43:59
Speaker 1: His eye and finally his spyglass were employed in watching
44:03
Speaker 1: their return of his daughters to the shore. He saw
44:07
Speaker 1: them land on the beach and accompanied by Halcrow and
44:11
Speaker 1: another man, Fletcher. Doubtless he saw them as send the
44:15
Speaker 1: acclivity and proceed upon the road to Kirkwall. And he
44:20
Speaker 1: could even distinguish that Minna as if, considering herself as
44:24
Speaker 1: the guardian of the party, walked a little aloof from
44:28
Speaker 1: the rest on the watch, as it seemed against surprise,
44:32
Speaker 1: and ready to act as occasion should require at length,
44:37
Speaker 1: as the U Dollar was just about to lose sight
44:40
Speaker 1: of them, he had the exquisite satisfaction to see the
44:44
Speaker 1: party halt and the pirate leave them after a space
44:48
Speaker 1: just long enough for a civil farewell, and proceed slowly
44:53
Speaker 1: back on his return to the beach, blessing the great
44:57
Speaker 1: being who had thus relieved him from the most agonizing
45:01
Speaker 1: fears which a father can feel. The worthy U Dollar
45:05
Speaker 1: from that instant stood resigned to his own fate, whatever
45:10
Speaker 1: that might be. End of Chapter sixteen.