Of Course You Had To
Stop In Your End Firmly, Because If You Went Forward The Hole Went
Down Into The Water, And The Water Went Into The Hole, And Forthwith
You Foundered With All Hands - I.E., You And The Paddle And The
Calabash Baler.
This craft also had a strong weather helm, owing to
a warp in the tree of which it had been made.
I learnt all these
things one afternoon, paddling round the sandbank; and the next
afternoon, feeling confident in the merits of my vessel, I started
for the island, and I actually got there, and associated with the
natives, but feeling my arms were permanently worn out by paddling
against the current, I availed myself of the offer of a gentleman to
paddle me back in his canoe. He introduced himself as Samuel, and
volunteered the statement that he was "a very good man." We duly
settled ourselves in the canoe, he occupying the bow, I sitting in
the middle, and a Mrs. Samuel sitting in the stern. Mrs. Samuel was
a powerful, pretty lady, and a conscientious and continuous paddler.
Mr. S. was none of these things, but an ex-Bible reader, with an
amazing knowledge of English, which he spoke in a quaint, falsetto,
far-away sort of voice, and that man's besetting sin was curiosity.
"You be Christian, ma?" said he. I asked him if he had ever met a
white man who was not. "Yes, ma," says Samuel. I said "You must
have been associating with people whom you ought not to know."
Samuel fortunately not having a repartee for this, paddled on with
his long paddle for a few seconds.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 201 of 705
Words from 55714 to 55994
of 194943
