Rich Man's Coffin Read Online Free
Author: K Martin Gardner
me."
The Mate jumped in Arthur's face as the Captain wheeled on his heels and departed. The Mate breathed down Arthur's neck as he motioned for a nearby seaman to take the ropes from Arthur. He escorted Arthur to his rack with a firm hand around the back of his neck.
Some time later, the First Mate appeared at the Captain's desk. "Sir, I cannot find anyone who will flog the Cabin Boy."
The Captain slammed his ruler down and looked up at the First Mate, infuriated. He commanded, "Then do it yourself, or I will."
The First Mate squelched a look of distaste, and replied, "Sir, the crew is acting very unsettled. There's much grumbling about mutiny."
The Captain exploded. "Mutiny! Mutiny! I'll pull into port right now and have every one of them hung!" His face turned red and his neck veins bulged. He took a breath and sighed loudly. His eyes fluttered with a wild stare. He put his head in his hands. "Oh, God, just forget it.” He groaned in agony. “Dismissed.”
II
Arthur stationed himself in the crow's nest. He liked being the lookout during maneuvering parties. He would be the first to see port and the first to be seen by the Harbor Master. He was a highly visible ambassador, being carried along aloft three-quarters the way up the mainsail mast, standing just forward of the last crossbar. Looking from afar, he provided an ominous vision transfixing even the most experienced horizon watchers. Their view would include volatile precipitation pushing patches of vapor and parts of sail past the spyglass.
Arthur relieved the dawn Lookout, after hearing the man cry out land ho! The oncoming crew was fresh from a full night of sleep, and they enjoyed the thought of liberty.
That is, if the Captain allowed it at all. The likelihood of liberty being cancelled was slim, but given the level of tension onboard, uncertainty hung in the air around the unpredictable skipper.
“Despite all of your scurrilous acts at sea, crew, liberty will go down after all,” the Captain finally announced. Besides, I have a pressing matter to attend to on shore myself , he thought.
The Captain gave the order for the Brazilian colors to be flown as a friendly gesture, and partially out of loyalty to his own interests. The Captain had a Brazilian wife, a fact that was common knowledge among most of his longer-standing crewmembers. But no one discussed the matter openly, due to the fact that the Captain also had a Mrs. Stewart in the United Kingdom who would probably not take kindly to the rumors that she was married to a man with many wives. The crew secretly joked about the matter from time to time, but it was widely held that regardless of how saucy the conversation, careless gossip would provide nothing good for the crewmember who boasted his knowledge within earshot of the unpopular Captain, no matter how boisterous the surroundings. Every good sailor knew to hold his tongue and smile while toasting the Captain when he appeared with his dubious bride. Besides, she was prettier than Rio itself. Having inherited all the most attractive traits from the union of an Indian mother and a Moroccan father, she was always a welcome sight among the revelry and drunkenness that seemed to celebrate her coming.
Arthur tied the end of his cord to the mast. Then he attached many gaily-colored pennants, as they began flapping in the breeze. The ship was emblazoned with regalia, the image evoking childhood memories of homecomings held for militiamen returning from routing the British. The familiar smells of land – fragrant trees and flowers, cooking food, and farm animals -- arrived in waves and wafted across the deck. The odors recalled all the finer pleasures of life. Each man began to imagine his own
The Mate jumped in Arthur's face as the Captain wheeled on his heels and departed. The Mate breathed down Arthur's neck as he motioned for a nearby seaman to take the ropes from Arthur. He escorted Arthur to his rack with a firm hand around the back of his neck.
Some time later, the First Mate appeared at the Captain's desk. "Sir, I cannot find anyone who will flog the Cabin Boy."
The Captain slammed his ruler down and looked up at the First Mate, infuriated. He commanded, "Then do it yourself, or I will."
The First Mate squelched a look of distaste, and replied, "Sir, the crew is acting very unsettled. There's much grumbling about mutiny."
The Captain exploded. "Mutiny! Mutiny! I'll pull into port right now and have every one of them hung!" His face turned red and his neck veins bulged. He took a breath and sighed loudly. His eyes fluttered with a wild stare. He put his head in his hands. "Oh, God, just forget it.” He groaned in agony. “Dismissed.”
II
Arthur stationed himself in the crow's nest. He liked being the lookout during maneuvering parties. He would be the first to see port and the first to be seen by the Harbor Master. He was a highly visible ambassador, being carried along aloft three-quarters the way up the mainsail mast, standing just forward of the last crossbar. Looking from afar, he provided an ominous vision transfixing even the most experienced horizon watchers. Their view would include volatile precipitation pushing patches of vapor and parts of sail past the spyglass.
Arthur relieved the dawn Lookout, after hearing the man cry out land ho! The oncoming crew was fresh from a full night of sleep, and they enjoyed the thought of liberty.
That is, if the Captain allowed it at all. The likelihood of liberty being cancelled was slim, but given the level of tension onboard, uncertainty hung in the air around the unpredictable skipper.
“Despite all of your scurrilous acts at sea, crew, liberty will go down after all,” the Captain finally announced. Besides, I have a pressing matter to attend to on shore myself , he thought.
The Captain gave the order for the Brazilian colors to be flown as a friendly gesture, and partially out of loyalty to his own interests. The Captain had a Brazilian wife, a fact that was common knowledge among most of his longer-standing crewmembers. But no one discussed the matter openly, due to the fact that the Captain also had a Mrs. Stewart in the United Kingdom who would probably not take kindly to the rumors that she was married to a man with many wives. The crew secretly joked about the matter from time to time, but it was widely held that regardless of how saucy the conversation, careless gossip would provide nothing good for the crewmember who boasted his knowledge within earshot of the unpopular Captain, no matter how boisterous the surroundings. Every good sailor knew to hold his tongue and smile while toasting the Captain when he appeared with his dubious bride. Besides, she was prettier than Rio itself. Having inherited all the most attractive traits from the union of an Indian mother and a Moroccan father, she was always a welcome sight among the revelry and drunkenness that seemed to celebrate her coming.
Arthur tied the end of his cord to the mast. Then he attached many gaily-colored pennants, as they began flapping in the breeze. The ship was emblazoned with regalia, the image evoking childhood memories of homecomings held for militiamen returning from routing the British. The familiar smells of land – fragrant trees and flowers, cooking food, and farm animals -- arrived in waves and wafted across the deck. The odors recalled all the finer pleasures of life. Each man began to imagine his own
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