The only vessel, indeed, that any way approached her was a large
brig which, as my friend Woodrow had told me the day before, was a
privateer that was being fitted out by certain gentlemen and
merchants of Bristowe for work against the French. The Bristowe
merchants had suffered great losses from the depredations made on
their ships by French corsairs. Many a vessel loaded with a rich
freight of sugar, or tobacco, or other produce of the colonies, had
fallen a prey to the enemy, who swooped out of St. Malo or Brest,
as Woodrow said, and snapped up our barques almost within sight of
their harbor. 'Twas not to be wondered at that those who had
suffered in this way should make reprisals.
The Sans Pareil had such a fascination for me (never having seen a
king's ship before) that I was only awakened to the passage of time
by the crying out of my stomach. I had promised Mistress Perry, the
widow with whom I had taken up my abode, that I would return
punctually at noon for my dinner, and now the church clocks (no
less than my hunger) told me it was long past that hour. She would
be mightily vexed, and the joint would be burned black, and I
neither wished to offend her nor to eat cinders. So I now hurried
away as fast as my legs would carry me, and soon came to the
footpath leading to Clifton.
As I turned the corner by Jacob's Well, I stepped hastily aside to
avoid a man who was coming fast in the opposite direction. He also
moved at the same moment, and, as I have often known to happen at
such sudden encounters, the very movements made to prevent the
collision brought it about.
Pages:
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135