The man whose ship had gone down said with a grave look, "Young lad, you
ought to go to sea no more, it is not the kind, of life for you." "Why
Sir, will you go to sea no more then?" "That is not the same kind of
thing; I was bred to the sea, but you were not, and came on board my
ship just to find out what a life at sea was like, and you may guess
what you will come to if you do not go back to your home. God will not
bless you, and it may be that you have brought all this woe on us."
I spoke not a word more to him; which way he went I knew not, nor did
I care to know, for I was hurt at this rude speech. Shall I go home
thought I, or shall I go to sea? Shame kept me from home, and I could
not make up my mind what course of life to take.
As it has been my fate through life to choose for the worst, so I did
now. I had gold in my purse, and good clothes on my back, and to sea I
went once more.
But I had worse luck this time than the last, for when we were far out
at sea, some Turks in a small ship came on our track in full chase. We
set as much sail as our yards would bear, so as to get clear from them.
But in spite of this, we saw our foes gain on us, and we felt sure that
they would come up with our ship in a few hours' time.
At last they caught us, but we brought our guns to bear on them, which
made them shear off for a time, yet they kept up a fire at us as long as
they were in range. The next time the Turks came up, some of their men
got on board our ship, and set to work to cut the sails, and do us all
kinds of harm. So, as ten of our men lay dead, and most of the rest had
wounds, we gave in.
The chief of the Turks took me as his prize to a port which was held by
the Moors. He did not use me so ill as at first I thought he would have
done, but he set me to work with the rest of his slaves. This was a
change in my life which I did not think had been in store for me. How my
heart sank with grief at the thought of those whom I had left at home,
nay, to whom I had not had the grace so much as to say "Good bye" when I
went to sea, nor to give a hint of what I meant to do!
Yet all that I went through at this time was but a taste of the toils
and cares which it has since been my lot to bear.
I thought at first that the Turk might take me with him when next he
went to sea, and so I should find some way to get free; but the hope
did not last long, for at such times he left me on shore to see to his
crops. This kind of life I led for two years, and as the Turk knew and
saw more of me, he made me more and more free. He went out in his boat
once or twice a week to catch a kind of flat fish, and now and then he
took me and a boy with him, for we were quick at this kind of sport, and
he grew quite fond of me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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