“Well, well, I shall not discuss such points with you,” replied the officer, “I cannot congratulate myself on possessing wits sharp enough to cut through your strings of subtilities, I give up, therefore, these unprofitable points: my instincts, I must declare, are against piracy.”
“Instincts, indeed!” partly interjected Appadocca, “another stumbling block, and obstacle to science. There are no such things as instincts in man: he alone is distinguished from the rest of organic beings by the indefiniteness of his mind and sensibilities. The habits in which men are brought up, the notions of ignorance which they have compounded and adopted they call instincts, and thus saddle wise and good nature with an amount of absurdities that would make her blush, if she were conscious of the faults which she is made to bear on the ground of having implanted, in the human breast, feelings which are as ridiculous as they are false. As for you, Charles, I am somewhat surprised at you. It is clear you have not improved since you left the university. The time that you had for contemplation during your student’s life, ought to have produced better fruits than an unconditional adoption of the vague notions of the unreflecting, as soon as you found yourself among them.
“Pardon the freedom with which I speak—our friendship alone has made me depart from the usual silence which I invariably maintain.”
“No—no apology is necessary, my dear Emmanuel—I know you—I know you! Besides, we have always observed, that those who are endowed with a certain amount of intellect, like the pendulum of a clock, are liable to go as far from a given centre, in one direction as in the other. But let us drop this topic, and think of your safety. I have heard your story, and really I am not surprised that such a sensitive individual as you should have been driven by so much injustice to a course which, with all my sympathy towards you, I cannot but denounce. Appadocca, we have seen happy and innocent days together, before either injury had driven you into—into—crime, or the business of the world had thrown part of its cares upon me: I could not stand with my arms folded and see you tried like a malefactor, and, perhaps, end your life under the hands of a vile hangman: I have formed a plan to facilitate your escape.”
“A plan to facilitate my escape?”
“Yes, I am in high command on board this ship, and I have men who are devoted to me. This very night you will be put on shore.”
A pause ensued,—in which Appadocca seemed buried in deep reflection; while Charles Hamilton, quite surprised by the coldness manifested on the announcement of what he considered the happiest news to a prisoner,—the prospects of escape—grew gradually pale, and paler as the truth began to break upon him that his friend, from some strange doctrine of his own, might obstinately refuse to consult his safety, and to avail himself of the means of escape, which Hamilton could lay in his power.
After the lapse of a few minutes, Appadocca grasped the hand of the young officer.
“No, no,” he said, “Charles, I esteem you too much, and venerate the law of nature too much, to avail myself of this kindness. Recollect that confidence is placed in you; you are bound to use it scrupulously, else retribution will surely follow any breach of it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your good intention, but I cannot,—I will not accept your offer. If I escape, I shall do so without compromising any person, least of all, one of my oldest, and most esteemed friends.”
“I was not aware,” replied the young officer, somewhat piqued, “that I required to be reminded of the confidence which is here placed in me: be not, however, so foolish as to refuse my offer, let me entreat you.”