Marmaduke Merry: A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone DaysKingston, William Henry Giles
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Marmaduke Merry: A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone Days
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Midshipmen -- Fiction; Sea stories
"There appeared to be a family group. There were an old man and woman
whom I took to be the father and mother, three younger females, whom I
judged to be daughters, and two sons. All of them were dressed in
skins, and I was enabled to distinguish the females by their having
petticoats, and their hair braided in long plaits, which reached to the
ground. Their personal appearance was not prepossessing, and their
voices were so loud that I could hear every word they uttered, though of
course I could not understand their language. I was on the point of
retreating, when one of the young ladies, turning her head, perceived me
watching them, and, with a loud cry, rising from her seat, she ran
towards me. I had not before remarked the height of the savages, but as
they all stood up, I now perceived that she was full ten feet high, and
yet the shortest of the party. Although not afraid, for fear was a
stranger to my bosom, I yet did not relish the thoughts of having to
encounter such formidable-looking personages, and therefore set off
towards the shore as fast as my legs would carry me, but I soon found,
by the shouts astern, that the young giantess had made chase, and,
turning my head over my shoulder, I saw that she was coming up hand over
hand with me. I was on the top of the hill and she was at the bottom,
but that made little difference to her, for on she bounded, like a
kangaroo or a tiger, and I felt convinced that on flat ground I should
have no chance of escape; I therefore suddenly brought up, tacked about,
and faced her with my arms expanded, to make me look of more
considerable size. She was coming on full tilt. I did not think she
was so near, and the consequence was, as she was stooping down, I found
my arms round her neck, with my feet off the ground, while I clung to
her in a very affectionate embrace. She uttered some words which I
could not understand, and, covering my face with kisses, ran back with
me towards her companions, just as a young lady does a little child she
has run after, laughing with pleasure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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