Where rescue there was none,
“A right bold push,” the general cried,
“Of prisoners I am one.”
Never was there such a scene witnessed on board a ship as at the conclusion of this song. So wild was the noise of the stamping on the floor and pounding on the table that the people below thought the deck would come through. Yells of laughter and enthusiastic cheering mutually tried to drown out the other. Officers threw themselves on the table, convulsed with laughter, while tears streamed down their cheeks.
Others leaned their shaking sides up against the wall and yelled with laughter. In the midst of it General Prescott, who had laughed until he was almost in hysterics, threw Dicky a bright gold guinea, crying, “There, you young dog, is a guinea for you!”
Dicky caught the guinea as it spun toward him and, pulling his forelock as he ducked his head, exclaimed: “Thanky, sir!” and then turning made a bee-line for the fok’sle.
A boat was just leaving—he scrambled into it, and in a few minutes he was trotting up the narrow street toward his home, a very happy but somewhat frightened boy. He dashed into the kitchen where the Widow Stubbs sat peacefully knitting, while Jack Bell occupied his usual seat.
“That’s for you, mammy!” shouted Dicky, throwing a gold guinea in his mother’s lap.
“Land sakes!” cried the widow, “where did you get it from?”
“From General Prescott,” answered Dicky with twinkling eyes; and then he told the story of the song. The Widow Stubbs laughed until she cried, and Jack Bell roared like a bull with merriment.