Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 1.djvu/55

 self," said the captain, "but the boy has done it for me; you cannot appear on shore with that black eye."

As soon as he was gone, I was admonished to be more careful in future. "You are," said the captain, "like a young bear; all your sorrows are before you; if you give a blow for every hard name you receive, your fate in the service may be foreseen: if weak, you will be pounded toa mummy—if strong, you will be hated. A quarrelsome disposition will make you enemies m every rank you may attain; you will be watched with a jealous eye, well knowing, as we all do, that the same spirit of insolence and overbearing which you shew in the cockpit, will follow you to the quarter-deck, and rise with youin the service. This advice is for your own good; not that I interfere in these things, as every body and every thing finds its level ina man-of-war; I only wish you to draw a line between resistance against oppression, which I admire and respect, and a litigious, uncompro-