. Frank Mildmay, : or, The naval officer . onceive a human beingcould exist there: nor should we have discovered themif one of them had not coughed; on which he receivedthe execrations of the others, and the whole party wasinstantly handed out. We immediately cut the stringsof their trowsers behind, to prevent their running away,(this ought never to be omitted), and, placing them andourselves in the farmers waggon, made him put his teamto and drive us all to Quebec, the new-raised men joiningwith our own in all the jokes which flew thick about onthe occasion of their discovery. It was astonish
. Frank Mildmay, : or, The naval officer . onceive a human beingcould exist there: nor should we have discovered themif one of them had not coughed; on which he receivedthe execrations of the others, and the whole party wasinstantly handed out. We immediately cut the stringsof their trowsers behind, to prevent their running away,(this ought never to be omitted), and, placing them andourselves in the farmers waggon, made him put his teamto and drive us all to Quebec, the new-raised men joiningwith our own in all the jokes which flew thick about onthe occasion of their discovery. It was astonishing tome how easily these fine fellows reconciled themselvesto the thoughts of a man-of-war; perhaps the approach-ing row with the Yankees tended very much to preservegood humour. I became an enthusiast in man-hunting,although sober reflection has since convinced me of itscruelty, injustice, and inexpediency, tending to drive sea-men from the country more than any measure the govern-ment could adopt; but I am not going to write a treatise. The Naval Officer 193 on impressment. I cared not one farthing about theliberty of the subject, as long as I got my ship wellmanned for the impending conflict; and as I gratified mylove of adventure, I was as thoughtless of the conse-quences as when I rode over a farmers turnips in Eng-land, or broke through his hedges in pursuit of a fox. A tradesman at Quebec had affronted me, by refusingto discount a bill which I had drawn on my father. Ihad no other means of paying him for the goods I hadpurchased of him, and was much disconcerted at hisrefusal, which he accompanied with an insult to myselfand my cloth, never to be forgotten. Turning the paperover and over, he said, a midshipmans bill is not wortha farthing, and I am too old a bird to be caught withsuch chaff. Conscious that the bill was good, I vowed search-warrant enabled me to go wherever I could getinformation of men being concealed — this was easilyobtained from a brothe
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