At last I began to incline; and I said to William, "Come, brother
William," said I (for ever since our discourse at Bassorah I called him
brother), "if you will agree to two or three things with me, I'll go
home to England with all my heart."
Says William, "Let me know what they are."
"Why, first," says I, "you shall not disclose yourself to any of your
relations in England but your sister--no, not one; secondly, we will
not shave off our mustachios or beards" (for we had all along worn our
beards after the Grecian manner), "nor leave off our long vests, that we
may pass for Grecians and foreigners; thirdly, that we shall never speak
English in public before anybody, your sister excepted; fourthly, that
we will always live together and pass for brothers."
William said he would agree to them all with all his heart, but that the
not speaking English would be the hardest, but he would do his best for
that too; so, in a word, we agreed to go from Venice to Naples, where we
converted a large sum of money into bales of silk, left a large sum in a
merchant's hands at Venice, and another considerable sum at Naples, and
took bills of exchange for a great deal too; and yet we came with such
a cargo to London as few American merchants had done for some years,
for we loaded in two ships seventy-three bales of thrown silk, besides
thirteen bales of wrought silks, from the duchy of Milan, shipped at
Genoa, with all which I arrived safely; and some time after I married my
faithful protectress, William's sister, with whom I am much more happy
than I deserve.
And now, having so plainly told you that I am come to England, after I
have so boldly owned what life I have led abroad, it is time to leave
off, and say no more for the present, lest some should be willing to
inquire too nicely after your old friend CAPTAIN BOB.
[Transcriber's Note: The words "thae" (Scottish dialect for "those") and
"Geat Mogul" ("Great" may be meant) do occur as such in the print copy.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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