rward to witness the
embarkation of several boats-full of pressed seamen, who, strongly
guarded and ironed, were being conveyed to the Athol tender, a large
three-master, about a mile off, down the river. To judge from the cut
faces and bandaged heads and arms, the capture had not been effected
without resistance. Many of the poor fellows appeared rather suited to
an hospital than the duties of active service; and several lay with
bloodless faces and white lips, the handcuffed wrists seeming a very
mockery of a condition so destitute of all chance of resistance.

The sympathies of the bystanders were very varied regarding them. Some
were full of tender pity and compassion; some denounced the system as a
cruel and oppressive tyranny; others deplored it as an unhappy
necessity; and a few well-to-do-looking old citizens, in drab shorts and
wide-brimmed hats, grew marvelously indignant at the recreant
poltroonery of "the scoundrels who were not proud to fight their
country's battles."

As I was wondering within myself how it happened that men thus coerced
could ever be depended on in moments of peril and difficulty, and by
what magic the mere exercise of discipline was able to merge the
feelings of the man in the sailor, the crowd was rudely driven back by
policemen, and a cry of "make way," "fall back there," given. In the
sudden retiring of the mass, I found myself standing on the very edge of
the line along which a new body of impressed men were about to pass.
Guarded front, flank, and rear, by a strong party of marines, the poor
fellows came along slowly enough. Many were badly wounded, and walked
lamely; some were bleeding profusely from cuts on the face and temples,
and one, at the very tail of the procession, was actually carried in a
blanket by four sailors. A low murmur ran through the crowd at the
spectacle, which gradually swelled louder and fuller, till it burst
forth into a deep groan of indignation, and a cry of Shame! shame! Too
much used to such ebullitions of public feeling, or too proud to care
for them, the officer in command of the party never seemed to hear the
angry cries and shouts around him; and I was even more struck by _his_
cool self-possession than by _their_ enthusiasm. For a moment or two I
was convinced that a rescue would be attempted. I had no conception that
so much excitement could evaporate innocuously, and was preparing myself
to take part in the struggle, when the line halted as the l