Drake had
trained him, as he trained many another excellent officer, to be as
stout in discipline and as dogged of purpose, as he himself was: but he
had trained him also to feel with and for his men, to make allowances
for them, and to keep his temper with them, as he did this day.
Amyas's conscience smote him (and his simple and pious soul took the
loss of his brother as God's verdict on his conduct), because he had
set his own private affection, even his own private revenge, before the
safety of his ship's company and the good of his country.
"Ah," said he to himself, as he listened to his men's reproaches, "if I
had been thinking, like a loyal soldier, of serving my queen, and
crippling the Spaniard, I should have taken that great bark three days
ago, and in it the very man I sought!"
So "choking down his old man," as Yeo used to say, he made answer
cheerfully--
"Pooh! pooh! brave lads! For shame, for shame! You were lions
half-an-hour ago; you are not surely turned sheep already! Why, but
yesterday evening you were grumbling because I would not run in and
fight those three ships under the batteries of La Guayra, and now you
think it too much to have fought them fairly out at sea? Nothing
venture, nothing win; and nobody goes birdnesting without a fall at
times.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44