text
stringlengths 4
618
|
|---|
yes sir said the man humbly shall i go at once sir |
no wait |
keep a sharp look out on the cliff to see if mister raystoke is making signals for a boat |
he swung round walked aft and began sweeping the shore again with his glass while the master and dick exchanged glances which meant a great deal |
at last the little lieutenant could bear the anxiety no longer |
pipe away the men to that boat there he said and as the crew sprang in |
now mister gurr he said i'm only going to say one thing to you in the way of instructions yes sir |
beg pardon sir said the master deprecatingly |
steady my lads steady cried the master keep stroke and then he began to make plans as to his first proceedings on getting ashore |
say mester gurr said dick after one of these searches he wouldn't run away what |
mister raystoke sir don't be a fool |
what chucked him off yonder |
gurr glanced round to see if the men were looking and then said rather huskily but kindly |
ah ejaculated dick sadly |
say mester gurr sir which thankful i am to you for speaking so but you don't really think as he has come to harm |
i hope not dick i hope not but smugglers don't stand at anything sometimes |
i do assure you there's nothing here but what you may see |
if you'd let me finish you'd know said gurr gruffly one of our boys is missing seen him up here |
boy bout seventeen with a red cap no sir indeed i've not |
don't know as he has been seen about here do you said gurr looking at her searchingly no sir |
if she knew evil had come to the poor lad her face would tell tales like print |
i said a lad bout seventeen in a red cap like yours said gurr very shortly |
the man shook his head and stared as if he didn't half understand the drift of what was said |
here my lad where's your master |
eh i say where's your master |
gurr turned away impatiently again and signing to his men to follow they all began to tramp up the steep track leading toward the hoze with the rabbits scuttling away among the furze and showing their white cottony tails for a moment as they darted down into their holes |
i dunno muttered dick and a man can't be sure |
gurr saluted and stated his business while the baronet who had turned sallower and more careworn than his lot drew a breath full of relief one of your ship boys he said |
a lad looking like a common sailor and wearing a red cap no said sir risdon |
i have seen no one answering to the description here |
beg pardon sir but can you as a gentleman assure me that he is not here certainly said sir risdon |
surely cried sir risdon excitedly |
sir risdon was silent |
lady graeme looked ghastly |
you do not know no |
then i took up a great stone from among the trees and coming up to him smote him therewith on the head with all my might and crushed in his skull as he lay dead drunk |
behold a ship was making for the island through the dashing sea and clashing waves |
hearing this i was sore troubled remembering what i had before suffered from the ape kind |
upon this he brought me a cotton bag and giving it to me said take this bag and fill it with pebbles from the beach and go forth with a company of the townsfolk to whom i will give a charge respecting thee |
do as they do and belike thou shalt gain what may further thy return voyage to thy native land |
then he carried me to the beach where i filled my bag with pebbles large and small and presently we saw a company of folk issue from the town each bearing a bag like mine filled with pebbles |
to these he committed me commending me to their care and saying this man is a stranger so take him with you and teach him how to gather that he may get his daily bread and you will earn your reward and recompense in heaven |
now sleeping under these trees were many apes which when they saw us rose and fled from us and swarmed up among the branches whereupon my companions began to pelt them with what they had in their bags and the apes fell to plucking of the fruit of the trees and casting them at the folk |
we weighed anchor and shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say |
when it was the five hundred and fifty ninth night |
and ceased not sailing till we arrived safely at bassorah |
there i abode a little and then went on to baghdad where i entered my quarter and found my house and foregathered with my family and saluted my friends who gave me joy of my safe return and i laid up all my goods and valuables in my storehouses |
after which i returned to my old merry way of life and forgot all i had suffered in the great profit and gain i had made |
next morning as soon as it was light he prayed the dawn prayer and after blessing mohammed the cream of all creatures betook himself to the house of sindbad the seaman and wished him a good day |
here i found a great ship ready for sea and full of merchants and notables who had with them goods of price so i embarked my bales therein |
haply amongst you is one righteous whose prayers the lord will accept |
presently the ship struck the mountain and broke up and all and everything on board of her were plunged into the sea |
but it burneth in their bellies so they cast it up again and it congealeth on the surface of the water whereby its color and quantities are changed and at last the waves cast it ashore and the travellers and merchants who know it collect it and sell it |
each that died we washed and shrouded in some of the clothes and linen cast ashore by the tides and after a little the rest of my fellows perished one by one till i had buried the last of the party and abode alone on the island with but a little provision left i who was wont to have so much |
but there is majesty and there is no might save in allah the glorious the great |
when it was the five hundred and sixty first night |
then sighing for myself i set to work collecting a number of pieces of chinese and comorin aloes wood and i bound them together with ropes from the wreckage then i chose out from the broken up ships straight planks of even size and fixed them firmly upon the aloes wood making me a boat raft a little narrower than the channel of the stream and i tied it tightly and firmly as though it were nailed |
land after land shalt thou seek and find but no other life on thy wish shall wait fret not thy soul in thy thoughts o night all woes shall end or sooner or late |
i rowed my conveyance into the place which was intensely dark and the current carried the raft with it down the underground channel |
and i threw myself down upon my face on the raft by reason of the narrowness of the channel whilst the stream ceased not to carry me along knowing not night from day for the excess of the gloom which encompassed me about and my terror and concern for myself lest i should perish |
when i awoke at last i found myself in the light of heaven and opening my eyes i saw myself in a broad stream and the raft moored to an island in the midst of a number of indians and abyssinians |
but i was delighted at my escape from the river |
when they saw i understood them not and made them no answer one of them came forward and said to me in arabic peace be with thee o my brother |
o my brother answered he we are husbandmen and tillers of the soil who came out to water our fields and plantations and finding thee asleep on this raft laid hold of it and made it fast by us against thou shouldst awake at thy leisure |
i answered for allah's sake o my lord ere i speak give me somewhat to eat for i am starving and after ask me what thou wilt |
when it was the five hundred and sixty second night |
she said it hath reached me o auspicious king that sindbad the seaman continued when i landed and found myself amongst the indians and abyssinians and had taken some rest they consulted among themselves and said to one another there is no help for it but we carry him with us and present him to our king that he may acquaint him with his adventures |
so i consorted with the chief of the islanders and they paid me the utmost respect |
so i rose without stay or delay and kissed the king's hand and acquainted him with my longing to set out with the merchants for that i pined after my people and mine own land |
quoth he thou art thine own master yet if it be thy will to abide with us on our head and eyes be it for thou gladdenest us with thy company |
by allah o my lord answered i thou hast indeed overwhelmed me with thy favours and well doings but i weary for a sight of my friends and family and native country |
then i took leave of him and of all my intimates and acquaintances in the island and embarked with the merchants aforesaid |
he asked me whence they came and i said to him by allah o commander of the faithful i know not the name of the city nor the way thither |
for state processions a throne is set for him upon a huge elephant eleven cubits high and upon this he sitteth having his great lords and officers and guests standing in two ranks on his right hand and on his left |
his letter hath shown me this and as for the mightiness of his dominion thou hast told us what thou hast eye witnessed |
presently my friends came to me and i distributed presents among my family and gave alms and largesse after which i yielded myself to joyance and enjoyment mirth and merry making and forgot all that i had suffered |
such then o my brothers is the history of what befel me in my sixth voyage and to morrow inshallah |
i will tell you the story of my seventh and last voyage which is still more wondrous and marvellous than that of the first six |
when it was the five hundred and sixty third night |
she said it hath reached me o auspicious king that when sindbad the seaman had related the history of what befel him in his sixth voyage and all the company had dispersed sindbad the landsman went home and slept as of wont |
the seventh voyage of sindbad the seaman |
know o company that after my return from my sixth voyage which brought me abundant profit i resumed my former life in all possible joyance and enjoyment and mirth and making merry day and night and i tarried some time in this solace and satisfaction till my soul began once more to long to sail the seas and see foreign countries and company with merchants and hear new things |
so having made up my mind i packed up in bales a quantity of precious stuffs suited for sea trade and repaired with them from baghdad city to bassorah town where i found a ship ready for sea and in her a company of considerable merchants |
but the captain arose and tightening his girdle tucked up his skirts and after taking refuge with allah from satan the stoned clomb to the mast head whence he looked out right and left and gazing at the passengers and crew fell to buffeting his face and plucking out his beard |
this he set in a saucer wetted with a little water and after waiting a short time smelt and tasted it and then he took out of the chest a booklet wherein he read awhile and said weeping know o ye passengers that in this book is a marvellous matter denoting that whoso cometh hither shall surely die without hope of escape for that this ocean is called the sea of the clime of the king wherein is the sepulchre of our lord solomon son of david on both be peace |
a second fish made its appearance than which we had seen naught more monstrous |
when suddenly a violent squall of wind arose and smote the ship which rose out of the water and settled upon a great reef the haunt of sea monsters where it broke up and fell asunder into planks and all and everything on board were plunged into the sea |
although the plague was there in the most part of all the houses they nevertheless entered everywhere then plundered and carried away all that was within and yet for all this not one of them took any hurt which is a most wonderful case |
i beseech you think upon it |
nevertheless at all adventures they rang the bells ad capitulum capitulantes |
by the virtue of god why do not you sing panniers farewell vintage is done |
by the belly of sanct james what shall we poor devils drink the while |
lord god da mihi potum |
let him be carried to prison for troubling the divine service |
wherefore is it that our devotions were instituted to be short in the time of harvest and vintage and long in the advent and all the winter |
hark you my masters you that love the wine cop's body follow me for sanct anthony burn me as freely as a faggot if they get leave to taste one drop of the liquor that will not now come and fight for relief of the vine |
to others again he unjointed the spondyles or knuckles of the neck disfigured their chaps gashed their faces made their cheeks hang flapping on their chin and so swinged and balammed them that they fell down before him like hay before a mower |
to some with a smart souse on the epigaster he would make their midriff swag then redoubling the blow gave them such a homepush on the navel that he made their puddings to gush out |
believe that it was the most horrible spectacle that ever one saw |
o the holy lady nytouch said one the good sanctess o our lady of succours said another help help |