Ingenious pain, Andrew Miller [little red riding hood ebook .txt] 📗

by which its truth may be demonstrated. Let me do so then in the matter of this coolness - or bottom or bottle or neck or whatever we shall choose to call it. I dare say you saw several examples of it yourself. I have mentioned his walking out on the yard-arms — this in all weathers. Then there was the fact that he was utterly uncowed by Mr Cladingbowl the Boatswain, who was a very considerable bully and a great supporter of 'starting', a noxious custom of unofficial beating towards which the senior officers turned a blind eye. Dyer, for sundry offences real or imagined, was beaten very fiercely by Cladingbowl and also by his mates Dominic and Muddit, such that on one occasion Mr Munro was summoned to attend and found the boy greatly marked upon the back and haunches for which Dominic and Muddit spent a week in Irons, though

Cladingbowl scaped his just deserts until Minorca, where he took a canister of grape full-on and all but evaporated.

What amazed Mr Munro upon this occasion was that the boy, though stunned, shewed no evidence of the suffering that must be consequent upon such a thrashing; and what amazed him further, what amazed us all, was the speed with which the welts on his back disappeared, for he was not, I think, in the sick-bay above a single day before he declared himself fit for his duties.

Another particular that I should like to give I fear I may not in good conscience, for I was not a witness to any part of it and heard it second-hand only from Lt Williams of the Marines. It concerns an attack on the settlement of Baracoa in the island of Cuba in which your friend played a notable part. I cannot ask Lt Williams to recount it for you as the fellow was so unhappy as to succumb to the bloody flux, but Mr Drake who lives in Brixham may be prevailed upon.

It was shortly after the raid on Baracoa that James Dyer was taken on, at Mr Munro's request, as his Loblolly boy, that is, as a kind of assistant to himself and his mate, Mr O'Brien. This freed the boy from the rigours of the Watch and enabled him to remove his mess to the cockpit, which, despite the gloom there - it is in the very bowels of the ship — and the stink from the purser s office hard by, must have been a veritable palace by comparison to his old quarters. It also had the happy effect of placing him beyond the tyranny of Cladingbowl and this no doubt had been part of Munro's purpose in requesting him, for Mr Munro, in spite of some weaknesses common enough at sea, was a very considerate gentleman.

It transpired soon enough that the surgeon would have no reason to regret his decision, at least as far as the question of the young man's competence was concerned. He very shortly shewed himself the equal of his work, and what he did not already seem to know he learnt without effort and became so proficient as to excite the

resentment of Mr O'Brien. So much were Mr Munro and your friend in each other s company that I am sorry to record they became the butt of an ugly and infamous story, put about in the first instance by Mr O'Brien but then gaining general currency. I should not mention this, Sir, and risk offending you with ancient tattle, were there not certain repercussions that make the relation of even so unsavoury an episode pertinent.

To my dismay, Munro did little to protect either his own name or that of your friend, and indeed, gave every evidence of being besotted with the boy. I cannot well explain his reluctance to act, other than to suggest that his sense of outrage had been dulled by his consumption of Laudanum which he confessed to me he took at one thousand drops a day, quite sufficient to destroy one less habituated to the drug. Rum he also took in considerable measures, partly on account of the condition of his teeth, which were very rotten and only rendered bearable by regular swilling with the spirit. Poor man, he was never quite happy, and the presence of his young assistant was such an evident boon to him it seemed quite callous to prise them apart. Notwithstanding this I determined to speak with young Dyer and stress the necessity of confronting these calumnies. I spoke with a certain frankness and proposed that he should be less in the surgeons company. He did not at first appear to understand what I was saying and when I made myself more plain he only smiled and rebuked my impertinence in the strongest language and indeed, Sir, quite made me fear for my safety, though I am not a small nor a cowardly man.

As for Mr O'Brien, he did at length succeed in provoking the boy, and did not, I am sure, understand what a dangerous enemy he had made. I believe I may trust to your knowledge of your friend's temperament to bear this out and think you will not be surprised to hear that O'Brien shortly came to grief. He was beaten, severely beaten, while on shore leave at Colombo. No one witnessed the encounter and O'Brien never said more than that

he had been attacked while cutting back to the quay through some narrow streets. However, it was generally accepted as being the work, directly or indirectly, of James Dyer. As for O'Brien, he was out of his wits for a week, so that when we next touched at Portsmouth he discharged himself and was not heard of again. There were no reprisals of an official nature. It is as Captain Reynolds has it - 'The navy is no profession for milksops'

Being now without a mate, Mr Munro petitioned Surgeons Hall to examine James Dyer to be O'Brien's replacement, and by virtue