In This Attitude He Would Call Upon Him To Look Up, And Behold The Man
Who Gave His Countrymen Such A Thrashing At Copenhagen.
"Look you,
Dunk," says he, staggering about, and winking hard with one eye to
keep the other shut, "Look you; one man - hang me, half a man - with
one leg, one arm, one eye - hang me, with only a piece of a carcase,
flogged your whole shabby nation.
Do you deny it you lubber?"
The Dane was a mule of a man, and understanding but little English,
seldom made anything of a reply; so the cooper generally dropped his
leg, and marched off, with the air of a man who despised saying
anything further.
CHAPTER XVI.
WE ENCOUNTEB A GALE
THE mild blue weather we enjoyed after leaving the Marquesas gradually
changed as we ran farther south and approached Tahiti. In these
generally tranquil seas, the wind sometimes blows with great
violence; though, as every sailor knows, a spicy gale in the tropic
latitudes of the Pacific is far different from a tempest in the
howling North Atlantic. We soon found ourselves battling with the
waves, while the before mild Trades, like a woman roused, blew
fiercely, but still warmly, in our face.
For all this, the mate carried sail without stint; and as for brave
little Jule, she stood up to it well; and though once in a while
floored in the trough of a sea, sprang to her keel again and showed
play. Every old timber groaned - every spar buckled - every chafed cord
strained; and yet, spite of all, she plunged on her way like a racer.
Jermin, sea-jockey that he was, sometimes stood in the fore-chains,
with the spray every now and then dashing over him, and shouting out,
"Well done, Jule - dive into it, sweetheart.
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