I wish _he_ was lashed between the
devil's hind-hocks with a red hot cable as tight as he has jammed my
guns.
"Be so good as not to swear, Mr. Monk," said Dodd. "At your age sir, I
look to you to set an example to the petty officers."
"Well, I won't swear no more, sir, d--d if I do!" He added very loudly,
and with a seeming access of ire, "And I ax your pardon, captain, and the
deck's."
When a man has a deep anxiety, some human midge or mosquito buzzes at
him. It is a rule. To Dodd, heavy with responsibility, and a dark
misgiving he must not communicate, came delicately, and by degrees, and
with a semigenuflexion every three steps, one like a magpie; and, putting
his hands together, as our children do to approach the Almighty,
delivered himself thus, in modulated tones, and good Hindostanee. "The
Daughter of light, in whose beams I, Ramgolam, bask, glows with an
amicable desire to see the lord commander of the ship resembling a
mountain; and to make a communication."
Taught by sad experience how weighty are the communications the daughters
of light pour into nautical commanders at sea, Dodd hailed Mr.
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