Then came Tombstone, which they thought melancholy, and so they
called me Marble; consaiting, I suppose, it would make me
_tough._"
"How long did you remain in the Alms-House, and at what age did you
first go to sea?"
"I staid among them the public feeds, until I was eight years old, and
then I took a hazy day to cut adrift from charity. At that time,
Miles, our country belonged to the British--or they treated it as if
it did, though I've heard wiser men than myself say, it was always our
own, the king of England only happening to be our king--but I was born
a British subject, and being now just forty, you can understand I went
to sea several years before the revolution."
"True--you must have seen service in that war, on one side, or the
other?"
"If you say _both_ sides, you'll not be out of the way. In 1775,
I was a foretop-man in the Romeny 50, where I remained until I was
transferred to the Connecticut 74--"
"The what?" said I, in surprise. "Had the English a line-of-battle
ship called the Connecticut?"
"As near as I could make it out: I always thought it a big compliment
for John Bull to pay the Yankees."
"Perhaps the name of your ship was the Carnatic? The sounds are not
unlike."
"Blast me, if I don't think you've hit it, Miles. Well, I'm glad of
it, for I run from the ship, and I shouldn't half like the thought of
serving a countryman such a trick.
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