Читать книгу Men Against the Sea – Book Set. The Greatest Maritime Adventure Novels: The Bounty Trilogy, Lost Island, The Hurricane, Botany Bay, The Far Lands, Tales of the South Seas… онлайн

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“Now, Mr. Bligh, there is your boat, and you are fortunate to have the launch and not the cutter. Go into her at once, sir!”

“Mr. Christian,” said Bligh, “for the last time I beg you to reflect! I’ll pawn my honour—I pledge you my word never to think of this again if you will desist. Consider my wife and family!”

“No, Mr. Bligh. You should have thought of your family long before this, and we well know what your honour is worth. Go into the boat, sir!”

Seeing that all pleading was useless, Bligh obeyed, and was followed by Mr. Peckover and Norton, the quartermaster. Christian then handed down a sextant and a book of nautical tables.

“You have your compass, sir. This book is sufficient for every purpose, and the sextant is my own. You know it to be a good one.”

With his hands freed and once more in command, though only of his ship’s launch, Bligh became his old self again.

“I know you to be a bloody scoundrel!” he shouted, shaking his fist in Christian’s direction. “But I’ll have vengeance! Mind that, you ungrateful villain! I’ll see you swinging at a yardarm before two years have passed! And every traitor with you!”