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Page 33
The French captain, who was a very young fellow, and a man of
gallantry, was presently enamoured to no small degree with his
beautiful captive; and imagining Wild, from some words he dropt,
to be her husband, notwithstanding the ill affection towards him
which appeared in her looks, he asked her if she understood
French. She answered in the affirmative, for indeed she did
perfectly well. He then asked her how long she and that gentleman
(pointing to Wild) had been married. She answered, with a deep
sigh and many tears, that she was married indeed, but not to that
villain, who was the sole cause of all her misfortunes. That
appellation raised a curiosity in the captain, and he importuned
her in so pressing but gentle a manner to acquaint him with the
injuries she complained of, that she was at last prevailed on to
recount to him the whole history of her afflictions. This so moved
the captain, who had too little notions of greatness, and so
incensed him against our hero, that he resolved to punish him;
and, without regard to the laws of war, he immediately ordered out
his shattered boat, and, making Wild a present of half-a-dozen
biscuits to prolong his misery, he put him therein, and then,
committing him to the mercy of the sea, proceeded on his cruize.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL BEHAVIOUR OF OUR HERO IN THE BOAT.
It is probable that a desire of ingratiating himself with his
charming captive, or rather conqueror, had no little share in
promoting this extraordinary act of illegal justice; for the
Frenchman had conceived the same sort of passion or hunger which
Wild himself had felt, and was almost as much resolved, by some
means or other, to satisfy it. We will leave him however at
present in the pursuit of his wishes, and attend our hero in his
boat, since it is in circumstances of distress that true greatness
appears most wonderful. For that a prince in the midst of his
courtiers, all ready to compliment him with his favourite
character or title, and indeed with everything else, or that a
conqueror, at the head of a hundred thousand men, all prepared to
execute his will, how ambitious, wanton, or cruel soever, should,
in the giddiness of their pride, elevate themselves many degrees
above those their tools, seems not difficult to be imagined, or
indeed accounted for. But that a man in chains, in prison, nay, in
the vilest dungeon, should, with persevering pride and obstinate
dignity, discover that vast superiority in his own nature over the
rest of mankind, who to a vulgar eye seem much happier than
himself; nay, that he should discover heaven and providence (whose
peculiar care, it seems, he is) at that very time at work for him;
this is among the arcana of greatness, to be perfectly understood
only by an adept in that science.
What could be imagined more miserable than the situation of our
hero at this season, floating in a little boat on the open seas,
without oar, without sail, and at the mercy of the first wave to
overwhelm him? nay, this was indeed the fair side of his fortune,
as it was a much more eligible fate than that alternative which
threatened him with almost unavoidable certainty, viz., starving
with hunger, the sure consequence of a continuance of the calm.
Our hero, finding himself in this condition, began to ejaculate a
round of blasphemies, which the reader, without being over-pious,
might be offended at seeing repeated. He then accused the whole
female sex, and the passion of love (as he called it),
particularly that which he bore to Mrs. Heartfree, as the unhappy
occasion of his present sufferings. At length, finding himself
descending too much into the language of meanness and complaint,
he stopped short, and after broke forth as follows: "D--n it, a
man can die but once! what signifies it? Every man must die, and
when it is over it is over. I never was afraid of anything yet,
nor I won't begin now; no, d--n me, won't I. What signifies fear?
I shall die whether I am afraid or no: who's afraid then, d---n
me?" At which words he looked extremely fierce, but, recollecting
that no one was present to see him, he relaxed a little the terror
of his countenance, and, pausing a while, repeated the word, d--n!
"Suppose I should be d--ned at last," cries he, "when I never
thought a syllable of the matter? I have often laughed and made a
jest about it, and yet it may be so, for anything which I know to
the contrary. If there should be another world it will go hard
with me, that is certain. I shall never escape for what I have
done to Heartfree. The devil must have me for that undoubtedly.
The devil! Pshaw! I am not such a fool to be frightened at him
neither. No, no; when a man's dead there's an end of him. I wish I
was certainly satisfied of it though: for there are some men of
learning, as I have heard, of a different opinion. It is but a bad
chance, methinks, I stand. If there be no other world, why I shall
be in no worse condition than a block or a stone: but if there
should----d--n me I will think no longer about it.--Let a pack of
cowardly rascals be afraid of death, I dare look him in the face.
But shall I stay and be starved?--No, I will eat up the biscuits
the French son of a whore bestowed on me, and then leap into the
sea for drink, since the unconscionable dog hath not allowed me a
single dram." Having thus said, he proceeded immediately to put
his purpose in execution, and, as his resolution never failed him,
he had no sooner despatched the small quantity of provision which
his enemy had with no vast liberality presented him, than he cast
himself headlong into the sea.
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