Part 3 (1/2)
”We are out of sight of the fleet, O'Grady,” Captain O'Driscol said, grimly.
”I felt sure we should be,” O'Grady said, triumphantly. ”Sorra one of them could keep foot with us.”
”They are ahead of us, man,” O'Driscol said, angrily; ”miles and miles ahead.”
”Ahead, is it? You must know better, O'Driscol; though it is little enough you know of s.h.i.+ps. You see we are close-hauled, and there is no doubt that that is the vessel's strong point. Why, we have dropped the rest of them like hot potatoes, and if this little breeze keeps on, maybe we shall be in the Tagus days and days before them.”
O'Driscol was too exasperated to argue.
”O'Driscol is a good fellow,” O'Grady said, turning to Terence, ”but it is a misfortune that he is so prejudiced. Now, what is your own opinion?”
”I have no opinion about it, Captain O'Grady. I have a very strong opinion that I am not going to enjoy my breakfast, and that this motion does not agree with me at all. I have been ill half the night. d.i.c.k Ryan is awfully bad, and by the sounds I heard I should say a good many of the others are the same way. On the main deck it is awful; they have got the hatches battened down. I just took a peep in and bolted, for it seemed to me that everyone was ill.”
”The best plan, lad, is to make up your mind that you are quite well. If you once do that you will be all right directly.”
Terence could not for the moment reply, having made a sudden rush to the side.
”I don't see how I can persuade myself that I am quite well,” he said, when he returned, ”when I feel terribly ill.”
”Yes, it wants resolution, Terence, and I am afraid that you are deficient in that. It must not be half-and-half. You have got to say to yourself, 'This is glorious; I never enjoyed myself so well in my life,' and when you have said that and feel that it is quite true, the whole thing will be over.”
”I don't doubt it in the least,” Terence said; ”but I can't say it without telling a prodigious lie, and worse still, I could not believe the lie when I had told it.”
”Then I am afraid that you must submit to be ill, Terence. I know once that I had a drame, and the drame was that I was at sea and horribly sea- sick, and I woke up and said to myself, 'This is all nonsense, I am as well as ever I was;' and, faith, so I was.”
Ill as Terence was, he burst into a fit of laughter.
”That was just a dream, Captain O'Grady; but mine is a reality, you know. I don't think that you are looking quite well yourself.”
”I am perfectly well as far as the sea goes, Terence; never was better in my life; but that pork we had for dinner yesterday was worse than usual, and I think perhaps I ought to have taken another gla.s.s or two to correct it.”
”It must have been the pork,” Terence said, as seriously as O'Grady himself; ”and it is unfortunate that you are such an abstemious man, or, as you say, its effects might have been corrected.”
”It's me opinion, Terence, my boy, that you are a humbug.”
”Then, Captain O'Grady, it is clear that evil communications must have corrupted my good manners.”
”It must have been in your infancy then, Terence, for divil a bit of manners good or bad have I ever seen in you; you have not even the good manners to take a gla.s.s of the cratur when you are asked.”
”That is true enough,” Terence laughed. ”Having been brought up in the regiment, I have learned, at least, that the best thing to do with whisky is to leave it alone.”
”I am afraid you will never be a credit to us, Terence.”
”Not in the way of being able to make a heavy night of it and then turn out as fresh as paint in the morning,” Terence retorted; ”but you see, Captain O'Grady, even my abstinence has its advantages, for at least there will always be one officer in the corps able to go the round of the sentries at night.”
At this moment the vessel gave such a heavy lurch that they were both thrown off their feet and rolled into the lee-scuppers, while, at the same moment, a rush of water swept over them. Amidst shouts of laughter from the other officers the two scrambled to their feet.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO FRENCH PRIVATEERS BEAR DOWN UPON THE SEA- HORSE]
”Holy Moses!” O'Grady exclaimed, ”I am drowned entirely, and I sha'n't get the taste of the salt water out of me mouth for a week.”