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

323 страница из 953

“You filthy beast!” he said. “Do you call yourself an officer?”

Parkin had a high soft voice, almost feminine in quality, in strange contrast to his swarthy, hairy appearance.

“What did you say?” he asked. “Repeat that.”

“I called you a filthy beast,” said Stewart, “and so you are!”

He was as near to Parkin as his irons would permit him to go. The lieutenant took care to keep beyond reach.

“You will regret that,” he said. “I promise that you will repent of it more than once before you’re hung.”

I am unable to say whether he would have tried the irons of the rest of us in the same manner. I was resolved that he should not test mine in that fashion; but at that moment the armourer appeared and Parkin ordered him to carry on the examination. It would have been impossible for any of us to have freed ourselves from the leg irons, but Parkin ordered all the handcuffs to be altered so that they should fit more tightly. When they had been repaired and brought back, it was only with great difficulty that they could be fastened upon us.