"Blast you! Do you mean to disobey me, sir? Answer my question, sir, or by breechins and blackskin I'll break you sir!" roared the captain.
"Yes, sir; yes, sir, you did," answered the lieutenant, quickly. "You gave me orders to shoot every rebel caught in arms, who refused to surrender. But these men claim to be gentlemen and not rebels. This one," and he pointed to me, "claims to be a friend of Lord Dunmore's."
"Claims!" roared the Captain, getting almost purple in the face, and it really appeared as if he were going off in a fit. "Claims!" And then he simply drew in breath for a moment to gather power to express himself. Here was an opportunity, I thought, so I broke in—
"Yes, sir," I said, "I am well known to Lord Dunmore, and also to nearly every gentleman on the river. I am Richard Judkins, of Judkins' Hall, and I"—
"Shut up!" he roared. "Don't you speak to me sir. If you do I'll cut you down where you stand." And he drew his sword. "You may be Richard Perkins, of Perkins' Hell, or any other hell, but if Lord Dunmore knows you he knows an unhung scoundrel. Don't glare at me, sir; don't glare at me that way, or I'll cut you down where you stand," and he advanced a step towards me.
"I am a Virginia gentleman, sir, and I demand to be treated as such," I said.
"You are a liar and a villain," he roared, "and I will treat you as such," and with that he made a pass at my head that would certainly have finished me, had I not jumped suddenly backwards into the arms of a soldier behind me. At the same instant Will Byrd sprang forward to ward off the blow.
He caught the skipper's sword arm with his right hand and instantly dealt him a powerful blow just under the ear with his left. It sent the man to the deck as limp as a rag, with his sword clattering after him. The next instant Will was seized and thrown down and a line quickly passed around him, lashing his arms to his sides. Then Barron and I were served likewise.
The Captain lay on the deck as if dead, so in a few moments he was picked up and carried below to be nursed back to consciousness. In the mean time the schooner had been standing up the river under all sail, with the breeze abeam, and was rapidly nearing the frigate that was sailing under easy canvas to allow her to catch up and report the news of the affair on the shore.
"Carry the prisoners below in the fore-hold," ordered Mr. Rose, who was now in command, and we were quickly carried down through the forehatch into a dark, ill-smelling hole filled with bunks and all sorts of ship junk, and there we were left with a couple of men to guard us.