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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“I am profoundly glad to hear it, sir.”

“And you will be equally surprised to learn that all the facts of the mutiny, including that of your own villainy, are known.”

“My villainy, sir? I am as free from guilt in that affair as any member of your own ship’s company!”

“You dare to deny that you plotted with Christian to seize the Bounty?”

“Surely, sir, you must know that some of us who were left in the ship were compelled to remain for lack of accommodation in the launch? There were nine of us who took no part whatever in the mutiny. The launch was so overloaded that Captain Bligh himself begged that no more men should be sent into her; and he promised, if ever he reached England, to do justice to those of us who were forced to remain behind. Why, then, am I treated as though I were a pirate? If Captain Bligh were here....”

Edwards cut me short.

“That will do,” he said. “You will meet Captain Bligh in good time, when you have been taken to England to suffer the punishment you so richly merit. Now then, will you or will you not tell me where the Bounty is to be found?”