Chapter 103: Two Blackthorns?

Chapter 103 – Two Blackthorns?
Arthur stood at the bow of the ship observing the turquoise blue sea with binoculars, while beside him were the sailors who were constantly busy.

The improved Beagle had three masts, each of which was assigned six sailors and one petty officer to be in charge of duty, and their main task was to observe the sea surface as well as discerning the course and judging whether there were any hostile situations.

There were also a number of sailors spread out on the deck, including gunners led by the chief gunner, craftsmen overhauling the guns led by the quartermaster, and more than two dozen marines in charge of picking up a gangway, led by a raiding commander and two non-commissioned officers.

Tom and Tony looked nervously at the busy crew, and for the first time the two Scotland Yard officers, who had never been on a ship in their lives, felt rushed.

The young waiter who had been sent by Colonel Fitzroy to wait on them saw their nervousness and hurriedly asked, “Can I help you gentlemen?”

Tony covered his mouth and leaned against the side of the boat, his face was green, “Nothing, I just have a little urge to vomit, vomit ……”

Tom, on the other hand, reacted slightly better than Tony, he looked the waiter up and down and asked, “How old are you?”

“Me? Nine.”

The young waiter seemed to be afraid of being looked down upon as he hurriedly added, “But don’t look at me as young, but I’ve already worked on the ship for two years. If we talk about the age of the ship, I’ve even been there longer than those military cadets who just came on board? They’re four years older than me, but they can’t do any work right, so they give Colonel Fitzroy a hard time. I’m a lot better than they are!”

Hearing this, Tom couldn’t help but smile and touch the young waiter’s head, “I didn’t realize you were the same age as my son, you’ve grown so much stronger than him.”

“That’s for sure.” The small waiter pretended to be old-fashioned: “The premise of a long time on the ship is strong, even if the body is weak, but also have to eat fat as soon as possible, the sea will not hurt you. Dead at sea even a coffin is not, all have to be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.”

He just said here, he saw Arthur waved at him, the small waiter rushed up to flatter: “Sir, what are your orders?”

Although he wasn’t very old, he knew how to distinguish the status between people.

He immediately saw Arthur’s honorable status among the three, and also saw how polite Captain Fitzroy was to him.

To put it nicely, this ability is called knowing how to read people.

At worst, it was snobbery.

But you can’t blame the waiters, after all, this is the skill that these kids rely on to survive on the ship.

As the closest thing the ship had to a senior officer, almost every waiter dreamed of being recognized by the captain and sent to naval school.

Although the probability of such a step to the top was low, the few precedents still kept the waiters on their mission to serve the senior officers well.

Arthur spoke up and asked, “Please help me borrow a sailor’s knife from Mr. Colonel.”

“Ah? What do you …… you intend to do with this?”

Arthur didn’t shy away from his thoughts as he opened his mouth, “According to the Blackthorn’s information, that ship may be carrying seventy to eighty armed men, so if we were to engage in a picket fight, I’m afraid that the marines alone wouldn’t be able to handle it. So, as a Scotland Yard officer, I intend to join them.”

The waiter literally stood up in sweat when he heard this, “Mr. Hastings, you must not joke about this. Taking part in a pickup fight can literally kill you! If you’re worried about the lack of marines, it’s really all a minor issue, if they run out of men, there are still sailors, you don’t have to take the field yourself.”

Arthur pulled his pipe out of his pocket and lit it, “Little brother, do you have some misconception about being a police officer. What do you think the law is for?”

“The law?” The waiter spoke, “Isn’t that used to protect people like you?”

When the Red Devil heard this, he held his stomach in joy and said, “Pithy! Arthur, look at this boy, he’s even more enlightened than you are.”

Tom and Tony were also dumbfounded when they heard this.

They explained, “Little brother, it’s not the law that protects us, it’s the law we have to protect you with.”

“Protect me with the law?” The little waiter grimaced and laughed, “If it protected me, I wouldn’t be here. Do me a favor, gentlemen, for the sake of the law, oh no, there’s no law on the high seas, then for God’s sake don’t make it difficult for me.”

Arthur looked back at the young waiter and patted him on the head, “You’re a greasy little kid. But then again it really can’t be blamed on you. It’s just that I won’t give you a hard time, I’ll go find the colonel and ask him myself.” He had just turned around when he saw Elder walking towards them holding several navy blue sailor uniforms.

He distributed the clothes to the three of them, saying as he handed them out, “The most taboo thing about fighting at sea is clothing that looks different; so many of the Royal Navy’s senior officers have ended up getting shot at because they couldn’t be bothered to take off their epaulettes and uniforms. That’s why Colonel Fitzroy sent me here, so that you can change your clothes. By the way, if we get into a fight later, remember to tuck back a bit, or if you get shot in the head, don’t blame me for not warning you.”

However, Arthur did not think about this, he pulled Elder to his body and asked, “Go and get me a sailor’s knife, and by the way, pull some more bandages for me.”

“What are you going to do?” Elder said with a wary look on his face, “Arthur, don’t mess around! I know you know a bit about swordsmanship, but actual combat and practice are two different things. You can just put your gun in the back later.”

Arthur didn’t retort, he just opened his mouth and asked, “I don’t intend to rush to the opponent’s ship either, but what if they rush over?”

“That ……” Elder pondered for a moment, and he took a deep breath of cool air, “Still, you’ve thought this through! How could I have forgotten about this one! No, not only do I have to get you guys a handle, I have to go to the armory and pull one out myself!”

Elder hurriedly ran to the deck and talked to the quartermaster for a few moments, and immediately afterward he was seen taking the string of keys from the other man’s hand, and it wasn’t long before he came running back grabbing Darwin and holding a bunch of weapons.

“Charles, you’re scared shitless! Weren’t you a doctor once? If he dares to come at us, you’ll amputate his limbs, all four of them!”

“You say that lightly! Can he lie obediently on an operating table like a patient? Besides, even if he’s a patient, if he’s not drinking properly, he’ll still be struggling for his life. Holding him down on a surgical bed isn’t simpler than holding down a donkey!”

Elder couldn’t say anything to him, so he only had to change the topic, “Arthur, I’ve brought you the knife.”

However Arthur did not take the lead in taking the weapon from Elder’s hand, but instead picked up the bandage that was caught under Elder’s armpit.

He took off the leather glove on his left hand, revealing his calloused palm from practicing swordsmanship, and then wrapped the bandage tightly around his palm one after another.

“What are you doing?” Elder was confused when he saw Arthur’s action, “Wrapping it in advance? Save you the trouble later?”

However, at that moment, the Marine Commander, who happened to be passing by, looked at Arthur with an interested clenched chin.

He asked, “You know semi-swordsmanship?”

“Half-swordsmanship?” Knowing that the commander was an obsessive swordsman, Elder hurriedly asked, “A bandage is half-swordsmanship? What exactly is this half-sword art?”

The Marine Commander didn’t answer Elder either, but just smiled and raised his eyebrows, “Young man, half-swordsmanship is just a flowery technique if you don’t practice it well, and you can easily get hurt yourself. Don’t ever lose your life just to be cool, it’s not worth it.”

Arthur heard this and looked up at him and smiled as well.

“I’m average at practicing, but it should be enough to deal with a few slavers.”

“Wow…… seems to be really something!” The commander laughed out loud, he took off the officer’s matching sword on his waist and threw it at Arthur: “In that case, this sword is for you to use, you use half-sword arts, juggling swords to exert your full strength.”

Arthur was not polite, he took the officer’s sword and unsheathed it with a choking lang, the shiny blade illuminated the broken stubble on his chin.

“It’s a good sword.”

The Commander grinned, “The rest depends on whether it’s worthy of a good man.”

Just as the two were exchanging pleasantries, the foremast observer above them suddenly had his pupils constricted, and he carefully looked through his binoculars for half a day before he shouted behind him with certainty, “Attention all hands! Two unidentified vessels have been spotted in the sea at 15 degrees south by east!”

Colonel Fitzroy yelled, “Two ships? Are they sailing in company?”

The spotter confirmed again with his binoculars again and held his tongue before speaking, “Doesn’t look like it! They are too close to each other, aren’t they afraid of crashing into each other? And …… wait, damn! What the hell are they doing between the two ships? Why does it look as if they’re building a plank between each other.”

(End of chapter)