He was never
able to analyze his heart, though it then stood still within him; but
the thing that swayed him to his purpose was not altogether the thought
that Captain Snipes was about to degrade him, and that he had taken an
oath within his soul that he should not. No; he felt his manhood so
bottomless within him, that no word, no blow, no scourge of Captain
Snipe's could cut deep enough for that. He but clung to an instinct in
him,--the instinct diffused through all animated nature, the same that
prompts the worm to turn under the heel. Locking souls with him, he
meant to drag Captain Snipes from this earthly tribunal of his, to that
of Jehovah, and let Him decide between them. No other way could he
escape the scourge.
"To the gratings, sir!" cried Captain Snipes. "Do you hear?"
Fernando's eye measured the distance between him and the sea, and he was
gathering himself together for the fatal spring--
"Captain Snipes," said a voice advancing from the crowd. Every eye
turned to see who spoke. It was the remarkably handsome and gentlemanly
gunner, Hugh St. Mark, who was scarcely ever known to break the silence,
and all were amazed that he should do so now. "I know that man," said
St. Mark, touching his cap, and speaking in a mild, firm, but extremely
deferential manner, "and I know that he would not be found absent from
his station, if he knew where it was.
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