Blue Jackets; or, The Adventures of J. Thompson, A.B., Among "the Heathen Chinee": A Nautical NovelGreey, Edward
General
Blue Jackets; or, The Adventures of J. Thompson, A.B., Among "the Heathen Chinee": A Nautical Novel
Greey, Edward
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Fiction; Seafaring life -- Fiction
As the soldiers were both fast asleep. Teen had them conveyed to a dirty
cell in an outbuilding; and knowing Jerry was their prisoner, directed
him to be accommodated with a mat in the same apartment. About ten
o'clock a woman brought them a bowl of rice, and a pot of tea, upon
which the prisoner supped, and by eleven o'clock all the night-lights of
the establishment were extinguished, except the one in the cell occupied
by the soldiers and their prisoner. Finding they were both too far gone
to resist, the sailor first secured their wrists and ankles, then laying
them side by side, lashed them together, in the same manner as he would
have done a hammock. After gagging them, he opened the door and walked
into the inn. The dogs, aroused by his entry, began to growl and bark,
upon which a watchman arose, and having rubbed his eyes proceeded to
open a door, imagining he had heard some one knocking for admittance:
seeing this the sailor quietly slipped through, and found himself in the
street.
After walking for some time he began to feel weary, but knowing that if
he did not get clear of the place by daylight some one might identify
him, or notice his unshaven head, he kept right on, every now and then
finding himself dozing as he walked. At daybreak he found he was
ascending a range of hills, upon the slopes of which he observed large
tea-plantations. Groups of girls crossed his path upon their way to
gather tea, and some of them passed jocular remarks, or invited him to
join them and assist in their labour. About seven o'clock he met a
travelling barber who, for a few sapecks, shaved, trimmed, and shampooed
him, that operation taking place by the roadside, and only attracting
the notice of two or three children who were on their way to school.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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