Excerpt: ...asked Boseley if he wished to have his eyes bandaged. "No; I am not afraid to face my executioners," he answered. It was an intensely solemn occasion, and among all those hardy, rough-mannered sailors, there was not one, unless it was Captain Snipes, who was not deeply affected. The captain's face was flushed, and his breath was strong with brandy, and he seemed but little moved. "Go ahead, and have this done with," he said to the officer in charge of the affair. "Are you quite ready now?" asked the sergeant. ...
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Excerpt: ...asked Boseley if he wished to have his eyes bandaged. "No; I am not afraid to face my executioners," he answered. It was an intensely solemn occasion, and among all those hardy, rough-mannered sailors, there was not one, unless it was Captain Snipes, who was not deeply affected. The captain's face was flushed, and his breath was strong with brandy, and he seemed but little moved. "Go ahead, and have this done with," he said to the officer in charge of the affair. "Are you quite ready now?" asked the sergeant. "Yes," was the answer in a faltering tone. "Make ready!" and the twelve glittering muskets were leveled at this sacrifice to the wrath of Captain Snipes. "Take aim!" and the gunners steadied themselves for the fatal word, to send a fellow being to eternity. "Fire!" and instantly flashed a volley, reverberating a wild and unearthly death knell among the crags that looked down upon that awful scene. In the clear morning air, the smoke of the guns curled up lazily and hung like a funeral pall over the mangled, bleeding form. Four bullets had pierced his body. He fell on his face and lay motionless for a few seconds. Then he began to slowly raise his head. Fernando came near and stood in front of him. Ten thousand years could not efface that scene from his mind. He continued to raise his head and body without a struggle. He looked the captain in the eye, and his mouth was in motion as though he were trying to speak, --to utter some dying accusation. Never did human eye behold a scene so pitiful as this dying man gazing on his destroyer, gasping to implore or to denounce him. In an instant a dimness came over his eyes, and he fell dead. "Oh, Heaven!" groaned Fernando, and he hurried away to the ship. For weeks, he saw that awful face every time he closed his eyes to sleep. Two years on board the British frigate had made Fernando, Sukey and Terrence tolerably fair...
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Add this copy of Sustained Honor to cart. $15.21, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2015 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
