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 understand—I understand,” Sir Joseph remarked kindly. “You have suffered much, Byam; but remember, time will heal the deepest wounds. And remember another thing: if I may say so, you have obligations, and weighty ones.”

“To whom, sir?” I inquired.

My host paused, thoughtfully. “I see that it has not even occurred to you,” he said. “It is a delicate matter to explain. Montague, suppose I leave it to you?”

The captain sipped his wine as if pondering how to begin. Presently he looked up. “Sir Joseph and I have spoken of you more than once, Mr. Byam. You have obligations, as he says.”

“To whom, sir?” I asked once more.

“To your name; to the memory of your father and mother. You have been imprisoned and tried for mutiny, and though you were acquitted and are as innocent as Sir Joseph or myself, something—a little unpleasant something—may cling to your name. May cling, I say; whether or not it shall, rests with you. If you choose to follow some career ashore, or, worst of all, decide to bury yourself in the South Sea, men will say, when your name is spoken of: ‘Roger Byam? Yes, I remember him well; one of the Bounty mutineers. He was tried by court-martial and acquitted at the last moment. A near thing!’ Public opinion is a mighty force, Mr. Byam. No man can afford to disregard it.”