"
"Why, sir, the garrison might not all be hostile--we should liberate Mr.
Griffith and the marines; besides----"
"Besides what, sir?"
"I should have an opportunity, perhaps, of seeing my cousin Cecilia and
my cousin Katherine."
The countenance of Barnstable grew animated as he listened, and he
answered with something of his usual cheerful manner:
"Ay, that, indeed, would be a work worth carrying! And the rescuing of
our shipmates, and the marines, would read like a thing of military
discretion--ha! boy! all the rest would be incidental, younker; like the
capture of the fleet, after you have whipped the convoy."
"I do suppose, sir, that if the abbey be taken, Colonel Howard will own
himself a prisoner of war."
"And Colonel Howard's wards! now there is good sense in this scheme of
thine, Master Merry, and I will give it proper reflection. But here are
our poor fellows; speak cheeringly to them, sir, that we may hold them
in temper for our enterprise."
Barnstable and the midshipman joined their shipwrecked companions, with
that air of authority which is seldom wanting between the superior and
the inferior, in nautical intercourse, but at the same time with a
kindness of speech and looks, that might have been a little increased by
their critical situation. After partaking of the food which had been
selected from among the fragments that still lay scattered, for more
than a mile, along the beach, the lieutenant directed the seamen to arm
themselves with such weapons as offered, and also to make sufficient
provision, from the schooner's stores, to last them for four-and-twenty
hours longer.
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