something that excited a burst of sardonic laughter from the rest,
disregarding which I sprang lightly up the poop ladder and found myself
in the presence of a group consisting of the captain and the two mates.
The countenances of the latter expressed much annoyance and some
perturbation, particularly that of Leroy, the chief mate; but the look
of savage ferocity on the captain's face was positively fiendish, and
enough to strike terror into the heart of even the boldest who might
find himself in the power of such an individual. My hopes of
considerate, or even of ordinarily merciful, treatment from one of so
vindictively ferocious a character as this man seemed to be at once sunk
to zero; yet I was not minded that any Frenchman should enjoy the
satisfaction of saying that he had frightened me. I therefore assumed a
boldness of demeanour that I was very far from feeling, and bowed with
all the ease and grace that I could muster. Then addressing the captain
I said:

"Good-morning, Captain Tourville. I am afraid that the hard necessities
of misfortune compel me to claim from you that succour and hospitality
which the shipwrecked seaman has the right to ask--"

"Stop!" shouted Tourville, as, with clenched fist, he stood seeming
about to spring upon me; "I admit no such right, especially of an
Englishman. The English have ever been my most implacable enemies.
Because, forsooth, I choose to earn my living by following a vocation of
which some of them disapprove, they must needs do their utmost to ruin
me, and by heaven they have very nearly succeeded, too! Who are they
that they should presume to thrust their opinions down the throats of
other people? If their own countrymen choose to be led by the nose and
are willing to submit to their dictation, well and good, it is nothing
to me; it is their own affair, not mine. But what right have they to
dictate to other nations, to say you shall do this, and shall not do
that? I tell you that it is nothing short of monstrous, and I am
ashamed of France that she has submitted to be thus dictated to. But if
my country is so weak as to tolerate interference from a foreign Power,
I am not. I claim to judge for myself what is right or wrong, and to be
governed by my own conscience. I am a slaver, and I care not who knows
it! And I will continue to be a slaver as long as I please, despite the
disapproval of a few English fanatics. But let those beware who dare to
interfere