Journeys Through Bookland V3

C >> Charles H. Sylvester >> Journeys Through Bookland V3

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

In the meantime Friday and the captain's mate so well managed their
business with the rest, that they drew them, by hallooing and
answering, from one hill to another, and from one wood to another,
till they not only heartily tired them, but left them where they were
very sure they could not reach back to their boat before it was dark;
and, indeed, they were heartily tired themselves also, by the time
they came back to us.

We had nothing now to do but to watch for the others in the dark, and
to fall upon them, so as to make sure work with them. It was several
hours after Friday came back to me before they came back to their
boat; and we could hear the foremost of them, long before they came
quite up, calling to those behind to come along; and could also hear
them answer, and complain how lame and tired they were, and not able
to go any faster; which was very welcome news to us. At length they
came up to the boat; but it is impossible to express their confusion
when they found the boat aground in the creek, the tide ebbed out, and
their two men gone; we could hear them call one to another in the most
lamentable manner, telling one another they were got into an enchanted
island; that either there were inhabitants in it, and they should all
be murdered, or else there were devils and spirits in it, and they
should all be carried away and devoured. They hallooed again, and
called their two comrades by their names a great many times; but no
answer. After some time, we could see them, by the little light there
was, run about, wringing their hands like men in despair; and
sometimes they would go and sit down in the boat to rest themselves,
then come ashore again, and walk about again, and so the same thing
over again. My men would fain have had me give them leave to fall upon
them at once in the dark; but I was willing to take them at some
advantage, so as to spare them, and kill as few of them as I could;
and especially I was unwilling to hazard the killing of any of our
men, knowing the others were very well armed. I resolved to wait, to
see if they did not separate; and therefore, to make sure of them, I
drew my ambuscade nearer. We came upon them, indeed, in the dark, so
that they could not see our number; and I made the man they had left
in the boat, who was now one of us, to call them by name, to try if I
could bring them to a parley, and so perhaps might reduce them to
terms; which fell out just as we desired: for, indeed, it was easy to
think, as their condition then was, they would be very willing to
capitulate. So he calls out as loud as he could to one of them, "Tom
Smith! Tom Smith!" Tom Smith answered immediately, "Is that Robinson?"
for it seems he knew the voice. The other answered, "Ay, ay; for God's
sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms and yield, or you are all dead
men this moment." "Who must we yield to? Where are they?" says Smith
again. "Here they are," says he; "here's our captain and fifty men
with him, have been hunting you these two hours; the boatswain is
killed, Will Fry is wounded, and I am a prisoner; and if you do not
yield you are all lost."--"Will they give us quarter then?" says Tom
Smith, "and we will yield."---"I'll go and ask, if you promise to
yield," said Robinson; so he asked the captain. And the captain
himself then calls out, "You, Smith, you know my voice; if you lay
down your arms immediately, and submit, you shall have your lives,
all but Will Atkins."

Upon this, Will Atkins cried out, "For God's sake, captain, give me
quarter; what have I done? They have all been as bad as I" (which, by
the way, was not true; for, it seems, this Will Atkins was the first
man that laid hold of the captain, when they first mutinied, and used
him barbarously, in tying his hands, and giving him injurious
language); however, the captain told him he must lay down his arms at
discretion, and trust to the Governor's mercy; by which he meant me,
for they all called me Governor. In a word, they all laid down their
arms, and begged their lives; and I sent the man that had parleyed
with them, and two more, who bound them all; and then my great army of
fifty men, which, with those three, were in all but eight, came up and
seized upon them, and upon their boat; only that I kept myself and one
more out of sight, for reasons of state.

Our next work was to repair the boat, and think of seizing the ship;
and as for the captain, now he had leisure to parley with them, he
expostulated with them upon the villainy of their practices with him,
and at length upon the further wickedness of their design, and how
certainly it must bring them to misery and distress in the end, and
perhaps to the gallows. They all appeared very penitent, and begged
hard for their lives. As for that, he told them they were not his
prisoners, but the commander's of the island; that they thought they
had set him on shore in a barren, uninhabited island; but it had
pleased God so to direct them, that it was inhabited, and that the
Governor was an Englishman; that he might hang them all there if he
pleased; but, as he had given them all quarter, he supposed he would
send them to England, to be dealt with there as justice required,
except Atkins, whom he was commanded by the Governor to advise to
prepare for death; for that he would be hanged in the morning.

Though this was all but a fiction of his own, yet it had its desired
effect; Atkins fell upon his knees to beg the captain to intercede
with the Governor for his life; and all the rest begged of him, for
God's sake, that they might not be sent to England. It now occurred to
me, that the time of our deliverance was come, and that it would be a
most easy thing to bring these fellows in to be hearty in getting
possession of the ship; so I retired in the dark from them, that they
might not see what kind of a Governor they had, and called the captain
to me; when I called, as at a good distance, one of the men was
ordered to speak again, and say to the captain, "Captain, the
commander calls for you"; and presently the captain replied, "Tell
his Excellency I am just a-coming." This more perfectly amused them,
and they all believed that the commander was just by, with his fifty
men. Upon the captain coming to me, I told him my project for seizing
the ship, which he liked wonderfully well, and resolved to put it in
execution the next morning. But, in order to execute it with more art,
and to be secure of success, I told him we must divide the prisoners,
and that he should go and take Atkins, and two more of the worst of
them, and send them pinioned to the cave where the others lay; this
was committed to Friday and the two men who came on shore with the
captain. They conveyed them to the cave as to a prison; and it was,
indeed, a dismal place, especially to men in their condition. The
others I ordered to my bower, as I called it; and as it was fenced in,
and they were pinioned, the place was secure enough, considering they
were upon their behavior.

To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into a
parley with them; in a word, to try them, and tell me whether he
thought they might be trusted or not to go on board and surprise the
ship. He talked to them of the injury done him, of the condition they
were brought to; and that though the Governor had given them quarter
for their lives as to the present action, yet that if they were sent
to England, to be sure they would all be hanged in chains; but that if
they would join in so just an attempt as to recover the ship, he would
have the Governor's engagement for their pardon.

Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by men
in their condition; they fell down on their knees to the captain, and
promised, with the deepest imprecations, that they would be faithful
to him to the last drop, and that they should owe their lives to him,
and would go with him all over the world; that they would own him as a
father to them as long as they lived.

Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: 1, the captain,
his mate, and passenger; 2, the two prisoners of the first gang, to
whom, having their character from the captain, I had given their
liberty, and trusted them with arms; 3, the other two that I had kept
till now in my apartment pinioned, but, on the captain's motion, had
now released; 4, the single man taken in the boat; 5, these five
released at last; so that there were thirteen, in all, besides five we
kept prisoners in the cave for hostages.

The captain had now no difficulty before him, but to furnish his two
boats, stop the breach of one, and man them. He made his passenger
captain of one, with four of the men; and himself, his mate, and five
more, went in the other; and they contrived their business very well,
for they came up to the ship about midnight. As soon as they came
within call of the ship, he made Robinson hail them, and tell them he
had brought off the men and the boat, but that it was a long time
before they had found them, and the like; holding them in chat till
they came to the ship's side; when the captain and mate, entering
first, with their arms immediately knocked down the second mate and
carpenter with the butt end of their muskets, being very faithfully
seconded by their men; they secured all the rest that were upon the
main and quarter-decks, and began to fasten the hatches, to keep them
down that were below, when the other boat and their men, entering the
forechains, secured the forecastle of the ship, and the scuttle which
went down into the cook-room, making three men they found there
prisoners. When this was done, and all safe upon deck, the captain
ordered the mate, with three men, to break into the roundhouse, where
the new rebel captain lay, who, having taken the alarm, had got up,
and with two men and a boy had got firearms in their hands; and when
the mate, with a crow, split open the door, the new captain and his
men fired boldly among them, and wounded the mate with a musket ball,
which broke his arm, and wounded two more of the men, but killed
nobody. The mate, calling for help, rushed, however, into the
roundhouse, wounded as he was, and with his pistol shot the new
captain through the head, the bullet entering at his mouth, and came
out again behind one of his ears, so that he never spoke a word more;
upon which the rest yielded, and the ship was taken effectually,
without any more lives being lost.

As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered seven guns
to be fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me to give me
notice of his success; which, you may be sure, I was very glad to
hear, having sat watching upon the shore for it till nearly two of the
clock in the morning. Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me
down; and it having been a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very
sound, till I was surprised with the noise of a gun; and presently
starting up, I heard a man call me by the name, "Governor! Governor!"
and presently I knew the captain's voice; when, climbing to the top of
the hill, there he stood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in
his arms. "My dear friend and deliverer," said he, "there's your ship;
for she is all yours, and so are we, and all that belong to her." I
cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode, within little more than
half a mile of the shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as
they were masters of her, and, the weather being fair, had brought her
to an anchor just against the mouth of the little creek; and, the tide
being up, the captain had brought the pinnace in near the place where
I had first landed my rafts, and so landed just at my door, I was at
first ready to sink down with the surprise; for I saw my deliverance,
indeed, visibly put into my hands, all things easy, and a large ship
just ready to carry me away whither I pleased to go.

We then began to consult what was to be done with the prisoners we
had; for it was worth considering whether we might venture to take
them away with us or no, especially two of them, whom we knew to be
incorrigible and refractory to the last degree; and the captain said
he knew they were such rogues that there was no obliging them, and if
he did carry them away, it must be in irons, as malefactors, to be
delivered over to justice at the first English colony he could come
at; and I found that the captain himself was very anxious about it.
Upon this, I told him that, if he desired it, I durst undertake to
bring the two men he spoke of to make it their own request that he
should leave them upon the island.

"I should be very glad of that," said the captain, "with all my
heart."

"Well," said I, "I will send for them up, and talk with them for you."

So I caused Friday and the two hostages, for they were now discharged,
their comrades having performed their promise; I say, I caused them to
go to the cave, and bring up the five men, pinioned as they were, to
the bower, and keep them there till I came. After some time, I came
thither dressed in the new habit which had been given me by the
captain. Being all met, and the captain with me, I caused all the men
to be brought before me, and I told them I had got a full account of
their villainous behavior to the captain, but that they were fallen
into the pit which they had dug for others. They might see by and by
that their new captain had received the reward of his villainy; for
that they would see him hanging at the yardarm; as to them, I wanted
to know what they had to say why I should not execute them as pirates,
taken in the fact, as by my commission they could not doubt I had
authority to do.

One of them answered in the name of the rest, that they had nothing to
say but this, that when they were taken, the captain promised them
their lives, and they humbly implored my mercy: but I told them I knew
not what mercy to show them; for as for myself, I had resolved to quit
the island with all my men, and had taken passage with the captain to
go for England; and as for the captain, he could not carry them to
England, other than as prisoners in irons, to be tried for mutiny, and
running away with the ship; the consequence of which, they must needs
know, would be the gallows; so that I could not tell what was best for
them, unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island; if they
desired that, I did not care, as I had liberty to leave it. They
seemed very thankful for it, and said they would much rather venture
to stay there than to be carried to England to be hanged: so I left it
on that issue.

However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if he
durst not leave them there; upon this, I seemed a little angry with
the captain, and told him they were my prisoners, not his; and that
seeing I had offered them so much favor, I would be as good as my
word; and that if he did not think fit to consent to it, I would set
them at liberty, as I found them; and if he did not like it, he might
take them again if he could catch them. Upon this, they appeared very
thankful, and I accordingly set them at liberty, and bade them retire
into the woods, to the place whence they came, and I would leave them
some firearms, some ammunition, and some directions how they should
live very well, if they thought fit. Upon this I prepared to go on
board the ship, and desired him to go on board in the meantime, and
keep all right in the ship; but told the captain I would stay that
night to prepare my things, and told him to send the boat on shore
next day for me; ordering him, at all events, to cause the new
captain, who was killed, to be hanged at the yardarm, that these men
might see him.

When the captain was gone, I sent for the men up to me to my
apartment, and entered seriously into discourse with them on their
circumstances. I told them I thought they had made a right choice;
that if the captain had carried them away, they would certainly be
hanged. I showed them the new captain hanging at the yardarm of the
ship, and told them they had nothing less to expect.

When they had all declared their willingness to stay, I then told them
I would let them into the story of my living there, and put them into
the way of making it easy to them: accordingly, I gave them the whole
history of the place, and of my coming to it; showed them my
fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn, cured my
grapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to make them easy. I
told them the story also of the sixteen Spaniards that were to be
expected, for whom I left a letter, and made them promise to treat
them in common with themselves.

I left them my firearms, viz., five muskets, three fowling pieces, and
three swords. I had above a barrel and a half of powder left; for
after the first year or two I used but little, and wasted none. I gave
them a description of the way I managed the goats, and directions to
milk and fatten them, and to make both butter and cheese. In a word, I
gave them every part of my own story; and told them I should prevail
with the captain to leave them two barrels of gunpowder more, and some
garden seeds, which I told them I would have been very glad of. Also,
I gave them the bag of peas which the captain had brought me to eat,
and bade them to be sure to sow and increase them.

I left them the next day, and went on board the ship. We prepared
immediately to sail, but did not weigh that night. The next morning
early, two of the five men came swimming to the ship's side, and,
making the most lamentable complaint of the other three, begged to be
taken into the ship for God's sake, for they should be murdered, and
begged the captain to take them on board, though he hanged them
immediately. Upon this the captain pretended to have no power without
me; but after some difficulty, and after solemn promises of amendment,
they were taken on board, and were, some time after, roundly whipped
and pickled; after which they proved very honest and quiet fellows.

Sometime after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up,
with the things promised to the men; to which the captain, at my
intercession, caused their chests and clothes to be added, which they
took, and were very thankful for.

And thus I left the island, the 19th of December, as I found by the
ship's account, in the year 1686, after I had been upon it eight-and-
twenty years, two months, and nineteen days; being delivered from this
captivity the same day of the month that I first had been cast ashore.
In this vessel, after a long voyage, I arrived in England the 11th of
June, in the year 1687, having been thirty-five years absent.

FAITHLESS SALLY BROWN

By THOMAS HOOD

Young Ben he was a nice young man,
A carpenter by trade;
And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
That was a lady's maid.

But as they fetched a walk one day,
They met a press-gang crew;
And Sally she did faint away,
Whilst Ben he was brought to.

The boatswain swore with wicked words
Enough to shock a saint,
That, though she did seem in a fit,
'Twas nothing but a feint.

"Come, girl," said he, "hold up your head,
He'll be as good as me;
For when your swain is in our boat
A boatswain he will be."

So when they'd made their game of her,
And taken off her elf,
She roused, and found she only was
A-coming to herself.

"And is he gone, and is he gone?"
She cried and wept outright;
"Then I will to the water-side,
And see him out of sight."

A waterman came up to her;
"Now, young woman," said he,
"If you weep on so, you will make
Eye-water in the sea."

"Alas! they've taken my beau, Ben,
To sail with old Benbow;"
And her woe began to run afresh,
As if she'd said, "Gee woe!"

Says he, "They've only taken him
To the tender-ship, you see."
"The tender-ship," cried Sally Brown--
"What a hard-ship that must be!"

"O, would I were a mermaid now,
For then I'd follow him!
But O, I'm not a fish-woman,
And so I cannot swim.

"Alas! I was not born beneath
The Virgin and the Scales,
So I must curse my cruel stars,
And walk about in Wales."

Now Ben had sailed to many a place
That's underneath the world;
But in two years the ship came home,
And all her sails were furled.

But when he called on Sally Brown,
To see how she got on,
He found she'd got another Ben,
Whose Christian name was John.

"O Sally Brown! O Sally Brown!
How could you serve me so?
I've met with many a breeze before,
But never such a blow!"

Then, reading on his 'bacco box,
He heaved a heavy sigh,
And then began to eye his pipe
And then to pipe his eye.

And then he tried to sing "All's Well!"
But could not, though he tried;
His head was turned,--and so he chewed
His pigtail till he died.

His death, which happened in his berth,
At forty-odd befell;
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton tolled the bell.

THE MARINER'S DREAM

By WILLIAM DIMOND

In slumbers of midnight the sailor-boy lay;
His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind;
But watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away,
And visions of happiness danced o'er his mind.

He dreamt of his home, of his dear native bowers,
And pleasures that waited on life's merry morn;
While Memory stood sideways half covered with flowers,
And restored every rose, but secreted its thorn.

Then Fancy her magical pinions spread wide,
And bade the young dreamer in ecstacy rise;
Now far, far behind him the green waters glide,
And the cot of his forefathers blesses his eyes.

The jessamine clambers in flowers o'er the thatch,
And the swallow chirps sweet from her nest in the wall;
All trembling with transport he raises the latch,
And the voices of loved ones reply to his call.

A father bends o'er him with looks of delight;
His cheek is impearled with a mother's warm tear;
And the lips of the boy in a love-kiss unite
With the lips of the maid whom his bosom holds dear.

The heart of the sleeper beats high in his breast;
Joy quickens his pulses,--his hardships seem o'er;
And a murmur of happiness steals through his rest,--"O God! thou
hast blest me,--I ask for no more."

Ah! whence is that flame which now bursts on his eye?
Ah! what is that sound which now 'larms on his ear?
'Tis the lightning's red gleam, painting hell on the sky!
'Tis the crashing of thunders, the groan of the sphere!

He springs from his hammock, he flies to the deck;
Amazement confronts him with images dire;
Wild winds and mad waves drive the vessel a wreck;
The masts fly in splinters; the shrouds are on fire.

Like mountains the billows tremendously swell;
In vain the lost wretch calls on mercy to save;
Unseen hands of spirits are ringing his knell,
And the death-angel flaps his broad wings o'er the wave!

O sailor-boy, woe to thy dream of delight!
In darkness dissolves the gay frost-work of bliss.
Where now is the picture that fancy touched bright,--
Thy parent's fond pressure, and love's honeyed kiss?

O sailor-boy! sailor-boy! never again
Shall home, love or kindred thy wishes repay;
Unblessed and unhonored, down deep in the main,
Full many a fathom thy frame shall decay.

[Illustration: LIKE MOUNTAINS THE BILLOWS SWELL]

No tomb shall e'er plead to remembrance for thee,
Or redeem form or frame from the merciless surge,
But the white foam of waves shall thy winding sheet be,
And winds in the midnight of winter thy dirge.

On a bed of green sea flowers thy limbs shall be laid,--
Around thy white bones the red coral shall grow;
Of thy fair yellow locks threads of amber be made,
And every part suit to thy mansion below.

Days, months, years, and ages shall circle away,
And still the vast waters above thee shall roll;
Earth loses thy pattern forever and aye,--
O sailor-boy! sailor-boy! peace to thy soul!

THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
[Footnote: Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was so very popular that a host of
imitations of it were written. Most of them have been entirely
forgotten but one, The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann Rudolph Wyss,
proved so popular, especially with children that it was translated
from the original German into several languages and new editions are
still appearing, though the book was published in 1813.

The Swiss Family Robinson gives the story of a family who were cast
away by shipwreck, on an uninhabited island. By no means all of the
book is given here--any of the interesting adventures and ingenious
experiments have been of necessity omitted--but the parts here given
tell a continuous story.]

I

THE SHIPWRECK AND LANDING

For many days we had been tempest-tossed. Six times had the darkness
closed over a wild and terrific scene, and returning light as often
brought but renewed distress, for the raging storm increased in fury
until on the seventh day all hope was lost.

We were driven completely out of our course; no conjecture could be
formed as to our whereabouts. The crew had lost heart, and were
utterly exhausted by incessant labor.

The riven masts had gone by the board, leaks had been sprung in every
direction, and the water which rushed in gained upon us rapidly.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27