Ballou Maturin Murray - Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain стр 8.

Wouldnt I be happy if I thought the ould lady had gone to Paradise to live wid the saints? said Terrence.

Believe me, my good fellow, shes safe in the hands of the wisdom and power that made her.

Thats consoling to be sure, but here am I, Terrence Moony, wid no mother at all, sure whats to become of me?

The thought struck Channing that it wanted yet one man to complete the complement of the brig.

How would you like to go to sea with me for good wages and comfortable living, hey Terrence? asked the mate.

Why theres nothing to kape me here to be sure, but to see the ould woman dacently buried. When does your honor go to sea, if you plase?

This morning.

Right away is it?

With the ebb tide.

Arrah, thats soon enough to be sure, could I get my friends to dacently bury her now, but thin I havnt the money.

Heres a few dollars if that will do it, said Channing handling Terrence some money for the purpose.

Do it, is it? wont they have a wake out of it, and Ill be far away at the same time theyll be ating at it.

Well, you must make haste, my man.

Yes all ginerosoty, yer honer. Ill jist fix it all, and thin Ill follow yees to the end of the earth.

And Terrence Mooney did arrange for the funeral of his mother, and after a few bitter expressions at parting from her body, he went on board the brig, when he shipped for the voyage to the West Indies.

Mr. Channing and Jack Herbert were on board in due season, and with the morning tide the brig hoisted her anchor, and spreading her white wings, stood out to sea. The bright sun shone gloriously upon the green islands that dotted the harbor in every direction, they were much larger then than now, and indeed one or two small ones have disappeared entirely. Seventy years of swift running tides have greatly reduced them in point of size, but not in beauty, for they still give a picturesque loveliness to the Bay that a painters taste could not improve. St. Georges flag floated from the topmasts of a dozen men of war, which lay at anchor in the harbor, and floated from a number of lofty points in the town. Scarcely had this scene disappeared from the eyes of the crew, when they were summoned aft by the captain, where he made them the following brief and very pertinent speech, it was characteristic of the man.

My men, when Im obeyed quick and well Im a pretty clever sort of a man, but when Im thwarted, why then Im h I! so look out. Im captain here, and will be obeyed to the very letter. Youll know me fast enough when any of you cross me.  There, that will do now go forward.

Divilish little Christian is there about him, said Terrence Mooney to his comrades, and is it bastes that we are entirely?

The sailers did go forward, but they muttered among themselves that they knew full well what sort of a man the captain was, one of the devils own begetting, and the poor fellows made up their minds to plenty of blows, and little duff. The captain soon disappeared below, and in an hour or so afterwards was half intoxicated and asleep.

The first mate for some days attended promptly to duty, but he soon began to shirk, and the general direction and sailing of the brig as a matter of course fell upon Channing, the next in command.  This none regretted, for although his orders were given in a prompt and decided tone, and implicit obedience was exacted, yet was his voice musical and kind, and his orders were almost anticipated by the promptitude of the willing crew, who soon came to love him for the generous consideration he evinced for their good and that of the vessel.

A little incident occurred on board of the brig, when eight days from port, which showed who really commanded the crew of the Constance. The captain passed the most of his time in the cabin, smoking, drinking, and dozing away the time, and thus kept but a slack look out upon the men, notwithstanding his boast at the outset.  One afternoon when a pretty stiff breeze was blowing from the North West, the mate lay sleeping in his state room leaving the sailing of the brig to his second, while the captain was occupied much the same as usual. After a while the mate awoke and came upon deck. Wishing to make up for his manifest negligence by some appearance of care at least, as he came up on deck he cast his eye aloft, and ordered a reef out of the fore and main topsails.

The crew looked at one another in astonishment, for it was evident to the poorest sailor on board that so far from its being proper to put the brig under any more sail, it would have been more prudent to have furled the canvass in question altogether.  The wind had blown fresh all day, and now as the afternoon advanced, the night breeze began to add its power to the wind that had blown through the day, until the brig under the two sails mentioned, and those close reefed, leaped over the waves with the speed of a racer. The mate repeated his order a second time, but there was no response from the crew, who slunk away in various directions with sullen countenances.

Mr. Channing, said the mate, these men are absolutely mutinous, sir.

I see it, Mr. Bunning.

Whats to be done, sir?

Do you still think it proper to make that sail?

It was the order, sir.

Forward there, said Channing in a tone of voice pitched perhaps a key lower than was his natural voice, lay aloft and shake out the reefs from the fore and main topsails, cheerily men, away there, with a will, I say.

The order had scarcely left the mouth of the second mate before the agile forms of a score of men sprang lightly up the shrouds to obey the mandate.

How is it the men obey you and not me, Mr. Channing?

Mr. Banning, it is blowing pretty fresh as you must see, was the reply, and perhaps it is rather crowding the brig to make this new sail just now, but if you think it proper, the men must do it, sir.

Well, put her under what canvass you like, said the mate to Channing as he left the deck, not a little mortified at the scene that had just taken place.

Channing rather pitied than blamed his fellow officer, and therefore was determined at any rate that his order should be obeyed; besides, he was not a person to relax the reins of discipline although much loved by the crew. He saw the impropriety of putting the brig under more sail as well as the crew, but it was not for him or them to judge in such a matter when there was a superior officer on deck. The error was soon remedied by the good judgment of Channing, and the beautiful vessel buffeting the waves still sprang on her course in safety, under the care of a higher power than any on board, bending gracefully under the influence of the freshening breeze.

CHAPTER III

All the crew of the brig Constance, save the captain, first mate and cook, were Americans, if we except Terrence Mooney who was one at heart, and the captain had managed to have this the case in order that he might take them home to England and receive the bounty money upon each one who would be immediately pressed into the British Navy. He had arrived at Boston but a few weeks previous to his sailing upon the present voyage with a crew of his own countrymen, upon whom he had also played the same trick, by delivering them over to the Kings ship that floated in Boston harbor, It was a hard fate to most of them who would as willingly have been immured in the walls of a prison. They told as a matter of consolation that they would not have to serve but about three years! And this, to men who had left families at home, to whom they had expected to return in a few weeks. It is a foul deed to impress a man into any duty, and foul must be the service that requires the exercise of such deeds.