"Get up there," he repeated, "and give him a rope's-end over his back. Don't take an insult from anybody."
Instead of obeying his direction, I walked towards the captain and passed him without saying a word.
Capt. Streeter saw the work must come upon him if he wanted it done; and with a few bounds was on top of the house, and snatching a rope away from old Jenkings, that he was coiling up, gave him some vigorous blows over the back with the end of it. "Will you ever speak to one of my officers again without saying 'Sir?'" said the captain, as he paused a moment for breath.
"I always do, sir," answered Jenkings, who was wholly at a loss to understand what all this meant.
"You're a liar," said the captain, with a few more expressions peculiarly Capt. Streeter's, and gave him another flogging.
When he had finished, he turned and walked to the edge of the house and said: "Mr. A——, if you ever let a man say aye, aye, to you again, I'll serve you in the same way."
"No one ever said it to me since I've been aboard of this ship, sir," I replied.
"Yes, there has," said the captain. "This man just said it."
"You're mistaken, sir; he didn't," said I.