Had it been Smudge, I could have borne up
against it; but, to haul down one's colours to a wrack, and a bloody
French wrack, too, it is superhuman!"
"You must remember all the circumstances, Captain Marble, and you will
find consolation. The ship was surprised, as we surprised the Lady of
Nantes."
"That's just it--put that on a general principle, now, and where are
you? Surprisers mustn't be surprised. Had we set a quarter-watch, sir,
it never could have happened; and nothing less than a quarter-watch
should have been set in a strange haven. What mattered it, that it was
an uninhabited island, and that the ship was land-locked and
well-moored, and the holding-ground was capital? It is all of no
account when you come to look at the affair in the way of duty. Why,
old Robbins, with his rivers in the ocean, would never have been
caught in this miserable manner."
Then Marble fairly gave in, placed his two hard hands on his face, and
I could see tears trickling from beneath them, as if water were
squeezed from a stone.
"The chances of the sea, Captain Marble," I said, greatly shocked at
such an exhibition, coming from such a quarter--"the chances of the
sea are sometimes too much for the best sailors. We should look at
this loss, as we look at the losses occasioned by a gale--then there
is some hope left, after all.
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