I took
it so much amiss, that, when a very beautiful young English lady came
aboard, I grunted to myself, "Ah! _you_ have got a lover, I'll be bound!"
As if there was any new offence to me in that, if she had!
She was sister to the captain of our sloop, who had been in a poor way
for some time, and who was so ill then that he was obliged to be carried
ashore. She was the child of a military officer, and had come out there
with her sister, who was married to one of the owners of the silver-mine,
and who had three children with her. It was easy to see that she was the
light and spirit of the Island. After I had got a good look at her, I
grunted to myself again, in an even worse state of mind than before,
"I'll be damned, if I don't hate him, whoever he is!"
My officer, Lieutenant Linderwood, was as ill as the captain of the
sloop, and was carried ashore, too. They were both young men of about my
age, who had been delicate in the West India climate. I even took _that_
in bad part. I thought I was much fitter for the work than they were,
and that if all of us had our deserts, I should be both of them rolled
into one. (It may be imagined what sort of an officer of marines I
should have made, without the power of reading a written order.
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