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Page 22
"No, good friend; you must not say that England is nothing to you.
It is to be much to you, yet--everything to you. You have to take
back to England the good name you have earned here, and the
gratitude and attachment and respect you have won here: and you
have to make some good English girl very happy and proud, by
marrying her; and I shall one day see her, I hope, and make her
happier and prouder still, by telling her what noble services her
husband's were in South America, and what a noble friend he was to
me there."
Though she spoke these kind words in a cheering manner, she spoke
them compassionately. I said nothing. It will appear to be another
strange confession, that I paced to and fro, within call, all that
night, a most unhappy man, reproaching myself all the night long.
"You are as ignorant as any man alive; you are as obscure as any man
alive; you are as poor as any man alive; you are no better than the
mud under your foot." That was the way in which I went on against
myself until the morning.
With the day, came the day's labour. What I should have done--
without the labour, I don't know. We were afloat again at the usual
hour, and were again making our way down the river. It was broader,
and clearer of obstructions than it had been, and it seemed to flow
faster. This was one of Drooce's quiet days; Mr. Pordage, besides
being sulky, had almost lost his voice; and we made good way, and
with little noise.
There was always a seaman forward on the raft, keeping a bright
look-out. Suddenly, in the full heat of the day, when the children
were slumbering, and the very trees and reeds appeared to be
slumbering, this man--it was Short--holds up his hand, and cries
with great caution: "Avast! Voices ahead!"
We held on against the stream as soon as we could bring her up, and
the other raft followed suit. At first, Mr. Macey, Mr. Fisher, and
myself, could hear nothing; though both the seamen aboard of us
agreed that they could hear voices and oars. After a little pause,
however, we united in thinking that we could hear the sound of
voices, and the dip of oars. But, you can hear a long way in those
countries, and there was a bend of the river before us, and nothing
was to be seen except such waters and such banks as we were now in
the eighth day (and might, for the matter of our feelings, have been
in the eightieth), of having seen with anxious eyes.
It was soon decided to put a man ashore, who should creep through
the wood, see what was coming, and warn the rafts. The rafts in the
meantime to keep the middle of the stream. The man to be put
ashore, and not to swim ashore, as the first thing could be more
quickly done than the second. The raft conveying him, to get back
into mid-stream, and to hold on along with the other, as well is it
could, until signalled by the man. In case of danger, the man to
shift for himself until it should be safe to take him on board
again. I volunteered to be the man.
We knew that the voices and oars must come up slowly against the
stream; and our seamen knew, by the set of the stream, under which
bank they would come. I was put ashore accordingly. The raft got
off well, and I broke into the wood.
Steaming hot it was, and a tearing place to get through. So much
the better for me, since it was something to contend against and do.
I cut off the bend of the river, at a great saving of space, came to
the water's edge again, and hid myself, and waited. I could now
hear the dip of the oars very distinctly; the voices had ceased.
The sound came on in a regular tune, and as I lay hidden, I fancied
the tune so played to be, "Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--
George--King! Chris'en--George--King!" over and over again, always
the same, with the pauses always at the same places. I had likewise
time to make up my mind that if these were the Pirates, I could and
would (barring my being shot) swim off to my raft, in spite of my
wound, the moment I had given the alarm, and hold my old post by
Miss Maryon.
"Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George-
-King!" coming up, now, very near.
I took a look at the branches about me, to see where a shower of
bullets would be most likely to do me least hurt; and I took a look
back at the track I had made in forcing my way in; and now I was
wholly prepared and fully ready for them.
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