|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 32
Wild rode with an exulting heart, secure, as he now thought
himself, of the possession of that lovely woman, together with a
rich cargo. In short, be enjoyed in his mind all the happiness
which unbridled lust and rapacious avarice, could promise him. As
to the poor creature who was to satisfy these passions, her whole
soul was employed in reflecting on the condition of her husband
and children. A single word scarce escaped her lips, though many a
tear gushed from her brilliant eyes, which, if I may use a coarse
expression, served only as delicious sauce to heighten the
appetite of Wild.
CHAPTER TEN
SEA-ADVENTURES VERY NEW AND SURPRISING.
When they arrived at Harwich they found a vessel, which had put in
there, just ready to depart for Rotterdam. So they went
immediately on board, and sailed with a fair wind; but they had
hardly proceeded out of sight of land when a sudden and violent
storm arose and drove them to the southwest; insomuch that the
captain apprehended it impossible to avoid the Goodwin Sands, and
he and all his crew gave themselves up for lost. Mrs. Heartfree,
who had no other apprehensions from death but those of leaving her
dear husband and children, fell on her knees to beseech the
Almighty's favour, when Wild, with a contempt of danger truly
great, took a resolution as worthy to be admired perhaps as any
recorded of the bravest hero, ancient or modern; a resolution
which plainly proved him to have these two qualifications so
necessary to a hero, to be superior to all the energies of fear or
pity. He saw the tyrant death ready to rescue from him his
intended prey, which he had yet devoured only in imagination. He
therefore swore he would prevent him, and immediately attacked the
poor wretch, who was in the utmost agonies of despair, first with
solicitation, and afterwards with force.
Mrs. Heartfree, the moment she understood his meaning, which, in
her present temper of mind, and in the opinion she held of him,
she did not immediately, rejected him with all the repulses which
indignation and horror could animate: but when he attempted
violence she filled the cabin with her shrieks, which were so
vehement that they reached the ears of the captain, the storm at
this time luckily abating. This man, who was a brute rather from
his education and the element he inhabited than from nature, ran
hastily down to her assistance, and, finding her struggling on the
ground with our hero, he presently rescued her from her intended
ravisher, who was soon obliged to quit the woman, in order to
engage with her lusty champion, who spared neither pains nor blows
in the assistance of his fair passenger.
When the short battle was over, in which our hero, had he not been
overpowered with numbers, who came down on their captain's side,
would have been victorious, the captain rapped out a hearty oath,
and asked Wild, if he had no more Christianity in him than to
ravish a woman in a storm? To which the other greatly and sullenly
answered, "It was very well; but d--n him if he had not
satisfaction the moment they came on shore." The captain with
great scorn replied, "Kiss,---" &c., and then, forcing Wild out
of the cabbin, he, at Mrs. Heartfree's request, locked her into
it, and returned to the care of his ship.
The storm was now entirely ceased, and nothing remained but the
usual ruffling of the sea after it, when one of the sailors spied
a sail at a distance, which the captain wisely apprehended might
be a privateer (for we were then engaged in a war with France),
and immediately ordered all the sail possible to be crowded; but
his caution was in vain, for the little wind which then blew was
directly adverse, so that the ship bore down upon them, and soon
appeared to be what the captain had feared, a French privateer. He
was in no condition of resistance, and immediately struck on her
firing the first gun. The captain of the Frenchman, with several
of his hands, came on board the English vessel, which they rifled
of everything valuable, and, amongst the rest, of poor Mrs.
Heartfree's whole cargo; and then taking the crew, together with
the two passengers, aboard his own ship, he determined, as the
other would be only a burthen to him, to sink her, she being very
old and leaky, and not worth going back with to Dunkirk. He
preserved, therefore, nothing but the boat, as his own was none of
the best, and then, pouring a broadside into her, he sent her to
the bottom.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|