The Lively Poll, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Lively Poll A Tale of the North Sea

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23377]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Lively Poll, by R.M. Ballantyne.

CHAPTER ONE.

THE FLEET.

Manx Bradley was an admiral--"admiral of the fleet"--though it must be admitted that his personal appearance did not suggest a position so exalted.

With rough pilot coat and sou'-wester, scarred and tarred hands, easy, rolling gait, and boots from heel to hip, with inch-thick soles, like those of a dramatic buccaneer, he bore as little resemblance to the popular idea of a lace-coated, brass-buttoned, cock-hatted admiral as a sea-urchin bears to a cockle-shell. Nevertheless Manx was a real admiral--as real as Nelson, and much harder worked.

His fleet of nearly two hundred fishing-smacks lay bobbing about one fine autumn evening on the North Sea. The vessels cruised round each other, out and in, hither and thither, in all positions, now on this tack, now on that, bowsprits pointing north, south, east, and west, as if without purpose, or engaged in a nautical g

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