Читать книгу Mutiny on the Bounty. Historical Novel онлайн

57 страница из 113

“You insolent scoundrel! Hold your tongue!”

Christian and Fryer happened to be on deck at the time, and Bligh included them in the black scowl he gave the men near by. “A damned set of thieves,” he went on. “You’re all in collusion against me—officers and men. But I’ll tame you—by God, I will!” He turned to the cooper. “Another word from you and I have you seized up and flogged to the bone.” He turned aft on his heel and bawled down the ladderway. “Mr. Samuel! Come on deck this instant.”

Samuel came trotting up to his master obsequiously, and Bligh went on: “Two of the cheeses have been stolen. See that the allowance is stopped—from the officers too, mind you—until the deficiency is made good.”

I could see that Fryer was deeply offended, though he said nothing at the time; as for Christian,—a man of honour,—his feelings were not difficult to imagine. The men had a pretty clear idea of which way the wind blew by this time, and on the next banyan day, when butter alone was served out, they refused it, saying that to accept butter without cheese would be a tacit acknowledgment of the theft. John Williams, one of the seamen, declared publicly in the forecastle that he had carried the two cheeses to Mr. Bligh’s house, with a cask of vinegar and some other things which were sent up in a boat from Long Reach.