He Had Spread It Upon The Deck, Stood Upon It,
And Brushed It Clean With The Ship's Broom.
I recognised our
tablecloth by the many spots of dirt and grease, and in the evening
found the table bare.
But what was the consequence? Scarcely had
the tea-pot been placed on the table than it began to slip off; had
not the watchful captain quickly caught it, it would have fallen to
the ground and bathed our feet with its contents. Nothing could
stand on the polished table, and I sincerely pitied the captain that
he had not another tablecloth.
My readers will imagine that what I have described would have been
quite sufficient to make my stay in the vessel any thing but
agreeable; but I discovered another circumstance, which even made it
alarming. This was nothing less than that our little vessel was
constantly letting in a considerable quantity of water, which had to
be pumped out every few hours. The captain tried to allay my
uneasiness by asserting that every ship admitted water, and ours
only leaked a little more because it was so old. I was obliged to
be content with his explanation, as it was now too late to think of
a change. Fortunately we did not meet with any storms, and
therefore incurred less danger.
Our journey lasted twenty days, during twelve of which we saw no
land; the wind drove us too far east to see the Feroe or the
Shetland Isles. I should have cared less for this, had I seen some
of the monsters of the deep instead, but we met with scarcely any of
these amiable animals.
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