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
The sailors were all amazement, and asked me a thousand questions,
which I had no inclination to answer, I was equally confounded at
the sight of so many pygmies, for such I took them to be, after
having so long accustomed mine eyes to the monstrous objects I had
left. But the captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, an honest worthy
Shropshire man, observing I was ready to faint, took me into his
cabin, gave me a cordial to comfort me, and made me turn in upon
his own bed, advising me to take a little rest, of which I had
great need. Before I went to sleep I gave him to understand that I
had some valuable furniture in my box, too good to be lost: a fine
hammock, a handsome field-bed, two chairs, a table, and a cabinet;
that my closet was hung on all sides, or rather quilted, with silk
and cotton; that if he would let one of the crew bring my closet
into his cabin I would open it there before him and show him my
goods. The captain, hearing me utter these absurdities, concluded
I was raving; however (I suppose to pacify me), he promised to
give order as I desired, and going upon deck, sent some of his men
down into my closet, whence (as I afterward found) they drew up
all my goods, and stripped off the quilting; but the chairs,
cabinet, and bedstead, being screwed to the floor, were much
damaged by the ignorance of the seamen, who tore them up by force.
Then they knocked off some of the boards for the use of the ship,
and when they had got all they had a mind for, let the hull drop
into the sea, which, by reason of many breaches made in the bottom
and sides, sunk outright. And, indeed, I was glad not to have been
a spectator of the havoc they made; because I am confident it
would have sensibly touched me, by bringing former passages into
my mind which I would rather have forgot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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