"A fellow has to keep a guard over his thoughts, for they are the foundation of his actions."
"But you are taking a higher flight than I am, Louis, and we will overhaul your idea some other time, when there are no twelve-pounders near," interposed the captain, as he glanced at the enemy. "My recording angel is not one of the sort you are thinking about; though, metaphorically speaking, I believe in those to whom you allude. If my winged spirit, so constantly near me at times like the present especially, were to materialize, he would present the photograph of Captain Royal Ringgold."
Louis could not help smiling as he imagined the angel described; and he thought the dignified commander made a rather odd-looking ethereal being.
"I am not making fun of the idea, Louis; the commander seems to be close aboard of me when there is any doubtful question to be decided by me as captain of this craft," continued Scott. "He is looking at me, and writing down all I do and say, ready to hold me responsible for everything when I meet him again. He is bigger and more present, so to speak, just now than ever before. If he knew the situation here at the present moment, it would half worry the life out of him, though he would be as dignified as ever."
"You have made a picture of your sense of responsibility; and I am glad you feel it so keenly," added Louis.
"This is a tight place for a young fellow like me, and I want to do my duty faithfully. If I should follow out my natural, inborn inclination, I should pitch into the Fatimé, and open fire upon her officers and crew with all the rifles and revolvers we could muster. But I don't do that sort of thing now. I am not the same fellow I was when I came on board of the Guardian-Mother. Now I shall run away if I get a chance to do so."
"I think you are wise, Captain Scott," added Louis.
"Whatever my recording angel sets down for or against me, he shall not write that I tried to get into a fight with that pirate," said the captain with a great deal of emphasis.
"You know something about her speed, for we had a little trial of it in the Strait of Gibraltar."
"We did not beat her in a straight run, and we escaped from her by manœuvring and the aid of shoal water," the captain explained. "I depend upon the same kind of assistance to get out of the present scrape."