The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old
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The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old
Children's literature
was about eight o'clock in the evening. I then advanced forward
near half a mile, but could not discover any sign of houses or
inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition that I did not
observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat
of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I
left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down
on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder
than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I
reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked it was just
daylight. I attempted to rise but was not able to stir; for as I
happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly
fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long
and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several
slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I
could only look upwards, the sun began to grow hot, and the light
offended my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me, but, in the
posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little time
I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing
gently forward, over my breast, came almost up to my chin; when
bending my eyes downward as much as I could, I perceived it to be
a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his
hands, and a quiver at his back. In the meantime, I felt at least
forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the
first. I was in the utmost astonishment, and roared so loud, that
they all ran back in a fright; and some of them, as I was
afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they got by leaping from
my sides upon the ground. However, they soon returned, and one of
them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face,
lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a
shrill but distinct voice, Hekinah degul; the others repeated the
same words several times, but I then knew not what they meant. I
lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great
uneasiness; at length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune
to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened my
left arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I
discovered the methods they had taken to bind me, and, at the same
time, with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a
little loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the left
side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches.
But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize
them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very shrill accent,
and after it ceased, I heard one of them cry-aloud, Tolgo phonac;
when in an instant I felt above an hundred arrows discharged on my
left hand, which pricked me like so many needles; and besides,
they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe,
whereof many I suppose fell on my body (though I felt them not),
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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