The river side was deserted and
silent; the lights of the vessels at anchor increased the darkness
around; and I was walking slowly along, wondering which of the
lamps hung on Captain Reddaway's vessel, when suddenly I found
myself surrounded by a group of men who seemed to have sprung from
nowhere. Before I knew what was happening, much less make any
movement of defence, I was being dragged by rough hands to the edge
of the quay. I shouted lustily for help, only to receive a crack on
the head from one of the men, while another clapped his hand across
my mouth. I wriggled desperately, tripped up one fellow, and used
my feet to some purpose on the shins of another; but there were so
many of them that I was soon overpowered, and was quite helpless in
their hands when they lugged me down the steps into a boat that lay
moored below.
Throwing me into the bottom they pulled off; in a few minutes they
came under the quarter of a large vessel in midstream; I was hauled
up the side, and, more or less dazed with my rough handling, heard
without understanding a loud voice giving orders. In two minutes I
was lying bound hand and foot in the fore part of the vessel, and
there I remained, exposed to the open sky, until morning dawned.
Chapter 13: Duguay-Trouin.
'Twas little sleep I got that night, my body smarting with the ill
usage I had suffered, and my mind in a ferment of rage and dismay.
This was the third and the worst mischance that had befallen me
since I left Shrewsbury, and no one would blame me overmuch,
perhaps, had I given way to utter despair.
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