"
"Do you allow nothing for English oak and English comfort, mine host?"
said the immovable captain; "do you think, good sir, that I measure
fitness and propriety by square and compass, as if I were planning
Solomon's temple anew? All I mean to say is, that the Alacrity is a
vessel of singular compactness and magical arrangement of room. Like the
tent of that handsome brother of the fairy, in the Arabian Nights, she
is big or she is little, as occasion needeth; and now, hang me, if I
don't think I have uttered more in her favor than her commander would
say to help me to a recruit, though no lad in the three kingdoms should
appear willing to try how a scarlet coat would suit his boorish figure."
"That time has not yet arrived, and God forbid that it ever should,
while the monarch needs a soldier in the field to protect his rights.
But what say ye, my men? you have heard the recommendation that Captain
Borroughcliffe has given of the Alacrity, which is altogether true--
after making some allowances for language. Will ye serve? shall I order
you a cheering glass a man, and lay by the gold, till I hear from the
cutter that you are enrolled under the banners of the best of kings?"
Katherine Plowden, who hardly seemed to breathe, so close and intent was
the interest with which she regarded the seamen, fancied she observed
lurking smiles on their faces; but if her conjectures were true, their
disposition to be merry went no further, and the one who had spoken
hitherto replied, in the same calm manner as before:
"You will excuse us if we decline shipping in the cutter, sir; we are
used to distant voyages and large vessels, whereas the Alacrity is kept
at coast duty, and is not of a size to lay herself alongside of a Don or
a Frenchman with a double row of teeth.
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