- end_line
- 7354
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 7319
- text
- stated now that, for the very brief period elapsing between his
restoration and being paid off in port by the Purser, the
master-at-arms conducted himself with infinite discretion, artfully
steering between any relaxation of discipline—which would have awakened
the displeasure of the officers—and any unwise severity—which would
have revived, in tenfold force, all the old grudges of the seamen under
his command.
Never did he show so much talent and tact as when vibrating in this his
most delicate predicament; and plenty of cause was there for the
exercise of his cunningest abilities; for, upon the discharge of our
man-of-war’s-men at home, should he _then_ be held by them as an enemy,
as free and independent citizens they would waylay him in the public
streets, and take purple vengeance for all his iniquities, past,
present, and possible in the future. More than once a master-at-arms
ashore has been seized by night by an exasperated crew, and served as
Origen served himself, or as his enemies served Abelard.
But though, under extreme provocation, _the people_ of a man-of-war
have been guilty of the maddest vengeance, yet, at other times, they
are very placable and milky-hearted, even to those who may have
outrageously abused them; many things in point might be related, but I
forbear.
This account of the master-at-arms cannot better be concluded than by
denominating him, in the vivid language of the Captain of the Fore-top,
as “_the two ends and middle of the thrice-laid strand of a bloody
rascal_,” which was intended for a terse, well-knit, and
all-comprehensive assertion, without omission or reservation. It was
also asserted that, had Tophet itself been raked with a fine-tooth
comb, such another ineffable villain could not by any possibility have
been caught.
- title
- Chunk 8