"What a
bantam cock have ye brought me here, Mr. Cludde?"
"He was a desperate fellow at school, Captain," said Cludde. "Why,
when he was only eleven he pretty nearly murdered my friend Vetch
here."
"Split my snatch block, you don't say so! We shall have to watch
the weather with him aboard."
"D'you hear?" I cried, incensed beyond bearing. "Let me free, or I
promise you you shall suffer for it, and those curs too."
"Didst ever see such a brimstone galley! I'll soon bring you to
your bearings," and with that he gave me a cuff on the head which
made me dizzy.
He left me then with the others, and soon afterwards I saw Cludde
go over the side, taking farewell of the captain, and, to my
surprise, of Vetch also. Still more astonished was I when, the
order being given to throw off, the vessel dropped down with the
tide, having Vetch still aboard. We made the mouth of the river,
and stood out to sea; it was clear that my old enemy and I were to
be shipmates, though I could not guess the purpose of his crossing
the ocean.
During the ship's slow beating out I had had leisure to look about
me, and I now knew that I was aboard the Dolphin, the privateer
whose fitting out I had watched from the quayside. Despite my sorry
situation I felt a stirring of interest and excitement; a privateer
would scarce put to sea for nothing, and the thought that ere many
days were passed I might be in the midst of a sea fight helped to
drive my grievances from my mind.
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