"Pay no attention to what those old croakers are sayin'," Master Hackett replied quickly. "Sailormen always borrow trouble when there's little show for it, an' don't take the pains to work out the traverse that can be made. I hold that the 'luck of the Essex' is still with her, an' will be when we meet the Britishers yard-arm to yard-arm, or at whatever range our commander believes to be best. No man can go into an engagement an' do his full duty if he counts on bein' knocked out before it's over. Believe that you've got to lick the other fellow, an' then you'll have an advantage."
Master Hackett could not have said anything which would have caused me to believe more firmly that he, like many another on board the Essex, was convinced we had come to an end of our "luck," and I turned away abruptly rather than listen further.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Benson J. Lossing.
[3] J. Fenimore Cooper.
CHAPTER XII. AT VALPARAISO.
I forgot to set down the fact that we brought away from Nukuheva, or, I suppose I should say, from Madison Island, Mr. Maury and his companions. They had had quite enough of the place and the life there, beautiful though the first was, and enticing as the latter might be. It was said Captain Porter proposed that these men remain in the fort, since, conversant with the language as they were, communication with the natives would be more readily had.
To such a proposition they declined flatly, and this fact should have been sufficient to show those of our crew who still hankered for the flesh-pots of Nukuheva, what would have been their condition of mind after having remained as long in that veritable garden of Eden.