A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed BeforeDefoe, Daniel
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A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before
Defoe, Daniel
Adventure stories; Voyages around the world -- Fiction
This was, you will conclude, a very joyful night, and the next morning
they went all hands to work at the boats, getting out of the creek
early, and made the best of their way. However, with all they could do,
they could not go above twelve miles that day, for the current setting
over to the other shore, had left them, and in some places, they would
rather have an eddy stream against them, and this discouraged them a
little, but, depending that they were near their port, and that their
friends were not far off, they were very cheerful. At night they looked
out again for rockets, the sight of which failed not to rejoice their
hearts again, and with this addition, that it appeared their friends
were not above four or five miles off; they answered the rockets
punctually, and proceeding early the next day, they met in the morning
joyfully enough, as has been said.
We were overjoyed at meeting, as may be easily conceived; but, to see
the pitiful boat, or periagua, they came on board in, a little surprised
us; for, indeed, it was a wonder they should be able to make it swim
under them, especially when they came out into the open sea.
As soon as we had the boat in reach, we hauled it up into the ship for a
relic, and, taking two of the men with us, we manned out all our ship's
boats to go and fetch the rest, for they were, as these men told us,
about seventeen miles up the river still, and could not come any
farther, their boats being not able to bring them along, and the river
growing very broad and dangerous. The eldest of my midshipmen came in
this first boat, but the captain and the other stayed with the men, who
were very unruly, and frequently quarrelling and wrangling about their
wealth, which, indeed, was very considerable; but they were above twice
as far up the river as the men told us, having halted after the boat
left them.
When our boats came to them, and took them in, I ordered they should be
set on shore, and their tents put up there, till I had settled matters a
little with them, having had an account how mutinous and fractious they
had been; and I made them all stay there till I had fully adjusted
everything with them about their treasure, which, indeed, was so much,
that they scarce knew how to govern themselves under the thought of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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