Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 3.djvu/72

 gave the poor fellow such a slap on the cheek, as to bring to my mind the tail of the whale descending on the boat at Bermuda. "You great fool," said she, "nobody wants that."

"There is matrimony in that slap," said I; and the event proved I was right—they were asked in church the Sunday following.

The industrious application of salts, cold water, and burnt rags, together with chafing of temples, opening of collars, and loosening the stay-laces of the young ladies, produced the happiest effects. Every hand, and every tongue, was in motion; and with all these remedies, the eyes of the enchanting Emily opened, and beamed upon me, spreading joy and gladness over the face of creation, like the sun rising out of the bosom of the Atlantic, to cheer the inhabitants of the Antilles after a frightful hurricane. In half an hour, all was right; "the guns were secured—we beat the retreat;" the servants retired. I became the centre of the picture. Emily held my right, my father