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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John Hallet was called next. He was now in his twentieth year, and I scarcely recognized the thin, frightened-looking boy I had known on the Bounty in the grown man who stood before us. He was dressed in a handsome lieutenant’s uniform—a long-tailed coat of bright blue, with white cuffs and lapels and gold anchor buttons. He wore white silk breeches and stockings, and his black pumps shone like mirrors. As he entered the great cabin he removed his cocked hat and placed it under his arm, halting to make a sweeping bow to the President as he did so. Upon taking the stand he glanced at us with an air that said only too plainly: “You see how I have risen in the world? And what are you? Pirates and mutineers!”

His story was the briefest of any of those yet given, but it was of grave importance to Morrison and myself. He stated with conviction that when the launch was about to leave the Bounty, he had seen Morrison at the taffrail, armed with a musket. He also named Burkitt, Ellison, and Millward as having been armed. His evidence with respect to myself came when he was being questioned by various members of the Court.