Sketches From My Life: By The Late Admiral Hobart PashaHobart-Hampden, Augustus Charles
History
Sketches From My Life: By The Late Admiral Hobart Pasha
Hobart-Hampden, Augustus Charles
Adventure and adventurers; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Blockades
I must warn any sportsman intending to shoot in the Jihoon river that
the wandering Arabs who are to be found there, though not brigands of a
high order, are petty thieves to the last degree. We were always obliged
to keep a watch in our tents, leaving a man behind in charge when we
went on shooting excursions. On one occasion we found on our return that
our watchman had captured an old woman whom he caught in the act of
creeping under the tent and stealing a spoon. I had myself a curious
adventure. An Arab told me that he knew where a boar was lying in the
long grass, and that he would take me to the spot if I would accompany
him. We started off together, and on getting well into the wood we went
on our hands and knees, crawling under the trees and brushwood, towards
the spot where the boar was supposed to be. We had to keep quite close
together. I carried round my neck a very pretty silver whistle, which I
prized exceedingly. Suddenly, when we were in a very thick part of the
bush, the Arab seized hold of my whistle and held it tight. I
immediately grasped the hand that held the whistle; this I did with my
right hand holding his left. He, with his right hand, tried to draw a
knife. I, with my left, tried to get my gun to bear on him, but there
was so little room to spare on account of the thick bush that both our
operations were difficult of performance. As soon as I saw him trying to
draw a knife, I dropped the hand with the whistle, and seized that with
which he tried to draw the knife. Thus the play went on for two or three
minutes; neither of us spoke, all our energies were directed on our
different games. At last, by turning round a little, I succeeded in
giving him a tremendous kick, which rolled him over on his back; then my
gun was free, and I held it to his head, upon which he took an attitude
of supplication on his knees, and prayed for quarter. I made him give me
his knife, go on all-fours again, and creep before me out of the wood.
This was a most audacious attempt at petty robbery. I should like to
have peppered him a little, but he was so penitent, I decided to let
him go. I don't think he meant to stab me; I think he merely wanted to
cut the string that held the whistle. These men were not generally
murderers. On this trip we killed twelve pigs, a hundred and seven
francolin, one lynx, and lots of cock and ducks. Coming back to the ship
I, and those with me in my boat, very nearly came to utter grief. There
was a good deal of sea on the bar of the river. The cutter that was with
me got over all safe, but my whale-boat being loaded heavily with pigs,
&c., refused to rise with the waves, and not doing so, the consequences
were that she filled and capsized. We had all to jump and make for the
shore, a distance of nearly a mile, being in the greatest danger while
doing so of getting into the current of the river. Any one who had done
this must have been washed away and drowned; however, thank goodness,
all hands were saved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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