"He'll let us go with a run. He'd like to see us drowned!"
Duckling fell back, scowling with fury; and shoving his head over as
the boat sunk quietly into the water, he discharged a volley of
execrations at us, saying that he would shoot some of us, if he swung
for it, before he was done, and especially applying a heap of abusive
terms to me.
The fellow pulling the bow oar laughed in his face; and another shouted
out, "We'll teach you to say your prayers yet, you ugly old sinner!"
We got away from the ship's side cleverly, and in a short time were
rowing fast for the wreck. The excitement under which I labored made
me reckless of the issue of this adventure. The sight of the lonely
man upon the wreck, coupled with the unmanly, brutal intention of Coxon
to leave him to his fate, had goaded me into a state of mind infuriate
enough to have done and dared anything to _compel_ Coxon to save him.
He might call it mutiny, but I called it humanity; and I was prepared
to stand or fall by my theory. The hate the crew had for their captain
and chief mate was quite strong enough to guarantee me against any foul
play on the part of Coxon; otherwise I might have prepared myself to
see the ship fill and stand away, and leave us alone on the sea with
the wreck.
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