Swords From the Sea by Harold Lamb

Author:Harold Lamb
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Action & Adventure, Short Stories (Single Author), Fiction, Fantasy, Suspense, Adventure Fiction, Adventure Stories, Short Stories, Sea Stories
ISBN: 9780803220362
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2010-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

It was an old ballad that Paul Jones must have got by heart from the mariners of Solway Firth when he was a lad, and he watched ships put in to Kircudbright from the American colonies. The men who listened reeked not of the words, but the plaintive drift of the ballad appealed to them.

The songs of the steppe, like those of the sea, held a burden of sorrow, and Cossacks, who had an ear for harmony, soon caught the air. Rich voices joined the American's deep tenor.

Jones was sitting on the breech of a twelve-pounder, hatless. Unlike the other officers he wore his hair unpowdered. Ten years had left lines in his swarthy face; his hands were thin, and the flesh had fallen away from his high cheekbones. But the quick brown eyes and the lift of the chin had not altered.

"Oh, he's a pretty fellow," grunted the Greek, "and very free with his songs and his double tots of rum and his airs about discipline. But what will he do when the time comes, and it's 'boarders away'?"

Pierre's temper flared instantly.

"When that time comes, you won't be treading on his heels, by you-"

He checked himself, remembering where he was, and why he had come to the ship. Dmitri put a hand to his hip where a knife was sheathed in his belt. But, glancing at the sotnik who was watching them, he stepped back with an oath.

"I'll pay you out! I'll send you to your account!"

Still muttering he hastened forward.

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