His Eye Brightened Up, And He Became
Restless On His Seat, And Thought That He Would Give The World For A
Chance To Stand Up In The Bow Of A Boat, And Put A Harpoon Into The
Neck Of A Whale.
In the mean time, the day wore away, and the road led into a more and
more mountainous country.
The hills were longer and steeper, and the
tracts of forest more frequent and solitary. The number of passengers
increased too, until the coach was pretty heavily loaded; and
sometimes all but the female passengers would get out and walk up the
hills. On these occasions Forester and Marco would generally walk
together, talking about the incidents of their journey, or the
occupations and amusements which they expected to engage in when they
arrived at Forester's home. About the middle of the afternoon the
coach stopped at the foot of a long winding ascent, steep and stony,
and several of the passengers got out. Forester, however, remained
in, as he was tired of walking, and so Marco and the sailor walked
together. The sailor, finding how much Marco was interested in his
stories, liked his company, and at length he asked Marco where he was
going. Marco told him.
"Ah, if you were only going on a voyage with me," said the sailor,
"that would make a man of you. I wouldn't go and be shut up with that
old prig, poring over books forever."
Marco was displeased to hear the sailor call his cousin an old
prig, and he felt some compunctions of conscience about forming and
continuing an intimacy with such a person.
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