"Sir," said the Captain of the Forecastle, "did old Ushant ever refuse doing his duty? did he ever yet miss his muster2? But, sir, old Ushant's beard is his own!"
"What's that, sir? Master-at-arms, put that man into the brig."
"Sir," said the old man, respectfully, "the three years for which I shipped are expired; and though I am perhaps bound to work the ship home, yet, as matters are, I think my beard might be allowed me. It is but a few days, Captain Claret."
"Put him into the brig!" cried the Captain; "and now, you old rascals3!" he added, turning round upon the rest, "I give you fifteen minutes to have those beards taken off; if they then remain on your chins, I'll flog you—every mother's son of you—though you were all my own god-fathers!"
The band of beards went forward, summoned their barbers, and their glorious pennants4 were no more. In obedience5 to orders, they then paraded themselves at the mast, and, addressing the Captain, said, "Sir, our muzzle-lashings are cast off!"
Nor is it unworthy of being chronicled, that not a single sailor who complied with the general order but refused to sport the vile8 regulation-whiskers prescribed by the Navy Department. No! like heroes they cried, "Shave me clean! I will not wear a hair, since I cannot wear all!"
On the morrow, after breakfast, Ushant was taken out of irons, and, with the master-at-arms on one side and an armed sentry9 on the other, was escorted along the gun-deck and up the ladder to the main-mast. There the Captain stood, firm as before. They must have guarded the old man thus to prevent his escape to the shore, something less than a thousand miles distant at the time.
"Well, sir, will you have that beard taken off? you have slept over it a whole night now; what do you say? I don't want to flog an old man like you, Ushant!"
"My beard is my own, sir!" said the old man, lowly.
"Will you take it off?"
"It is mine, sir?" said the old man, tremulously.
"Rig the gratings?" roared the Captain. "Master-at-arms, strip him! quarter-masters, seize him up! boatswain's mates, do your duty!"
While these executioners were employed, the Captain's excitement had a little time to abate10; and when, at last, old Ushant was tied up by the arms and legs and his venerable back was exposed—that back which had bowed at the guns of the frigate11 Constitution when she captured the Guerriere—the Captain seemed to relent.
"You are a very old man," he said, "and I am sorry to flog you; but my orders must be obeyed. I will give you one more chance; will you have that beard taken off?"
"Captain Claret," said the old man, turning round painfully in his bonds, "you may flog me if you will; but, sir, in this one thing I cannot obey you."
"By Heaven!" thrillingly whispered Jack13 Chase, who stood by, "it's only a halter; I'll strike him!"
"Better not," said a top-mate; "it's death, or worse punishment, remember."
"There goes the lash6!" cried Jack. "Look at the old man! By G—-d, I can't stand it! Let me go, men!" and with moist eyes Jack forced his way to one side.
"You, boatswain's mate," cried the Captain, "you are favouring that man! Lay on soundly, sir, or I'll have your own cat laid soundly on you."
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve lashes14 were laid on the back of that heroic old man. He only bowed over his head, and stood as the Dying Gladiator lies.
"Cut him down," said the Captain.
"And now go and cut your own throat," hoarsely15 whispered an old sheet-anchor-man, a mess-mate of Ushant's.
When the master-at-arms advanced with the prisoner's shirt, Ushant waved him off with the dignified16 air of a Brahim, saying, "Do you think, master-at-arms, that I am hurt? I will put on my own garment. I am never the worse for it, man; and 'tis no dishonour17 when he who would dishonour you, only dishonours18 himself."
"What says he?" cried the Captain; "what says that tarry old philosopher with the smoking back? Tell it to me, sir, if you dare! Sentry, take that man back to the brig. Stop! John Ushant, you have been Captain of the Forecastle; I break you. And now you go into the brig, there to remain till you consent to have that beard taken off."
"My beard is my own," said the old man, quietly. "Sen-try, I am ready."
And back he went into durance between the guns; but after lying some four or five days in irons, an order came to remove them; but he was still kept confined.
Books were allowed him, and he spent much time in reading. But he also spent many hours in braiding his beard, and interweaving with it strips of red bunting, as if he desired to dress out and adorn19 the thing which had triumphed over all opposition20.
He remained a prisoner till we arrived in America; but the very moment he heard the chain rattle21 out of the hawse-hole, and the ship swing to her anchor, he started to his feet, dashed the sentry aside, and gaining the deck, exclaimed, "At home, with my beard!"
His term of service having some months previous expired, and the ship being now in harbour, he was beyond the reach of naval22 law, and the officers durst not molest23 him. But without unduly24 availing himself of these circumstances, the old man merely got his bag and hammock together, hired a boat, and throwing himself into the stern, was rowed ashore26, amid the unsuppressible cheers of all hands. It was a glorious conquest over the Conqueror27 himself, as well worthy7 to be celebrated28 as the Battle of the Nile.
Though, as I afterward29 learned, Ushant was earnestly entreated30 to put the case into some lawyer's hands, he firmly declined, saying, "I have won the battle, my friends, and I do not care for the prize-money." But even had he complied with these entreaties31, from precedents33 in similar cases, it is almost certain that not a sou's worth of satisfaction would have been received.
I know not in what frigate you sail now, old Ushant; but Heaven protect your storied old beard, in whatever Typhoon it may blow. And if ever it must be shorn, old man, may it fare like the royal beard of Henry I., of England, and be clipped by the right reverend hand of some Archbishop of Sees.
As for Captain Claret, let it not be supposed that it is here sought to impale34 him before the world as a cruel, black-hearted man. Such he was not. Nor was he, upon the whole, regarded by his crew with anything like the feelings which man-of-war's-men sometimes cherish toward signally tyrannical commanders. In truth, the majority of the Neversink's crew—in previous cruises habituated to flagrant misusage—deemed Captain Claret a lenient35 officer. In many things he certainly refrained from oppressing them. It has been related what privileges he accorded to the seamen36 respecting the free playing of checkers—a thing almost unheard of in most American men-of-war. In the matter of overseeing the men's clothing, also, he was remarkably37 indulgent, compared with the conduct of other Navy captains, who, by sumptuary regulations, oblige their sailors to run up large bills with the Purser for clothes. In a word, of whatever acts Captain Claret might have been guilty in the Neversink, perhaps none of them proceeded from any personal, organic hard-heartedness. What he was, the usages of the Navy had made him. Had he been a mere25 landsman—a merchant, say—he would no doubt have been considered a kind-hearted man.
There may be some who shall read of this Bartholomew Massacre38 of beards who will yet marvel39, perhaps, that the loss of a few hairs, more or less, should provoke such hostility40 from the sailors, lash them into so frothing a rage; indeed, come near breeding a mutiny.
But these circumstances are not without precedent32. Not to speak of the riots, attended with the loss of life, which once occurred in Madrid, in resistance to an arbitrary edict of the king's, seeking to suppress the cloaks of the Cavaliers; and, not to make mention of other instances that might be quoted, it needs only to point out the rage of the Saxons in the time of William the Conqueror, when that despot commanded the hair on their upper lips to be shaven off—the hereditary41 mustaches which whole generations had sported. The multitude of the dispirited vanquished42 were obliged to acquiesce43; but many Saxon Franklins and gentlemen of spirit, choosing rather to lose their castles than their mustaches, voluntarily deserted44 their firesides, and went into exile. All this is indignantly related by the stout45 Saxon friar, Matthew Paris, in his Historia Major, beginning with the Norman Conquest.
And that our man-of-war's-men were right in desiring to perpetuate46 their beards, as martial47 appurtenances, must seem very plain, when it is considered that, as the beard is the token of manhood, so, in some shape or other, has it ever been held the true badge of a warrior48. Bonaparte's grenadiers were stout whiskerandoes; and perhaps, in a charge, those fierce whiskers of theirs did as much to appall49 the foe50 as the sheen of their bayonets. Most all fighting creatures sport either whiskers or beards; it seems a law of Dame51 Nature. Witness the boar, the tiger, the cougar52, man, the leopard53, the ram54, the cat—all warriors55, and all whiskerandoes. Whereas, the peace-loving tribes have mostly enameled56 chins.
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1
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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2
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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3
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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pennants
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| n.校旗( pennant的名词复数 )；锦标旗；长三角旗；信号旗 | |
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5
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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10
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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11
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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13
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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14
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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dishonours
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| 不名誉( dishonour的名词复数 )； 耻辱； 丢脸； 丢脸的人或事 | |
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adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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precedents
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| 引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例 | |
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impale
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| v.用尖物刺某人、某物 | |
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lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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40
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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41
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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42
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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43
acquiesce
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| vi.默许，顺从，同意 | |
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44
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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46
perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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47
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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48
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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49
appall
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| vt.使惊骇，使大吃一惊 | |
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50
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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51
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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52
cougar
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| n.美洲狮；美洲豹 | |
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53
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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54
ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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55
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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56
enameled
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| 涂瓷釉于，给…上瓷漆，给…上彩饰( enamel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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