"
This speech was almost unprecedented. Never before had a marine dared to
speak to the captain of a frigate in behalf of a seaman at the mast; but
there was something unostentatiously forcible and commanding in St.
Mark's manner. He had once saved the captain's life, when a French
boarder was about to slay him. Then the corporal, emboldened by St.
Mark's audacity, put in a good word. Terrence, who had been promoted to
a small office, poured forth a torrent of eloquence, and, almost before
he knew it, Fernando was free. As he was going to his quarters, his
brain in a whirl, he heard Job the cook say:
"He ain't no Britisher! Dar ain't no more Angler Saxon blood in his
veins dan in dis chile!"
An hour later, when he stood near a gun carriage, still dizzy from his
narrow escape from the double crime of murder and suicide, St. Mark
passed Fernando. He grasped the hand of the silent gunner, held it a
moment in his own and whispered: "Thank you!"
CHAPTER XI.
SHIPWRECK--ESCAPE AND RETURN TO OHIO.
Ship's rules, stringent as they were on the war frigate, and officers
severe as were those of the _Macedonian_ could not wholly curb the
rollicking spirit of Terrence. His exuberance of spirits constantly got
the better of any good intentions he might have formed. Any wholesome
dread he may have entertained of that famous feline of nine tails, known
to sailors of that day, was overcome by his love of pranks.
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