Sharpe became a mere machine,
always obeying, never speaking: Grey was put under arrest for
remonstrating against ungentlemanly language; and Bayliss, being at
bottom of the same breed as Robarts, fell into his humour, and helped
hector the petty officers and men. The crew, depressed and irritated,
went through their duties pully-hauly-wise. There was no song under the
forecastle in the first watch, and often no grog on the mess table at one
bell. Dodd never came on the quarter-deck without being reminded he was
only a passenger, and the ship was now under naval discipline. _"I_ was
reared in the royal navy, sir," would Robarts say, "second lieutenant
aboard the _Atalanta:_ that is the school, sir, that is the only school
that breeds seamen." Dodd bore scores of similar taunts as a Newfoundland
puts up with a terrier in office: he seldom replied, and, when he did, in
a few quiet dignified words that gave no handle.
Robarts, who bore the name of a lucky captain, had fair weather all the
way to St. Helena.
The guard-ship at this island was the _Salamanca._ She had left the Cape
a week before the _Agra.
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