Read "Asiatic Breezes" by Oliver Optic online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Whatever doubts Louis had in the first instance about Captain Scott's management of the defence of the Maud, he now believed that he honestly and sincerely desired to escape from the difficult and trying situation without an encounter with the pirate. He had feared the temptation to make a hero of himself would lead him into a conflict with the enemy when it might be avoided.
Without "showing the white feather," he had conducted himself with quite as much prudence as resolution. He had done his best to escape from the bay without any fighting. Before his reformation he was generally "spoiling for a fight" when there was any dispute or difficulty; but on the present occasion he had done his best to avoid one.