MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (novel books to read txt) 📖
- Author: FREDERICK MARRYAT
Book online «MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (novel books to read txt) 📖». Author FREDERICK MARRYAT
Hours Passed so. My Fishing Being Successful, I Lighted a Fire, And Soon
Fried a Few Fine Mackerel; But By-And-Bye The Sun Reached its Highest
Position, And The Scorching Became So Intolerable That I Was Obliged to
Strip And Spread My Clothes, And Even My Shirt, Upon The Benches, To
Obtain A Shelter. By That Time I Had Lost Sight Of Land, And Could Only
Perceive Now And Then Some Small Black Points, Which Were The Summits Of
The Tall Pines.
As Soon As My Meal Was Finished, I Don'T Know Why, But Instead Of
Sleeping a Decent Siesta Of Two Hours, The Spanish Tonic To Digest A
Dinner, I Never Awoke Before Sunset; And Only Then Because I Began To
Feel A Motion Which Was Far From Being Pleasant. In fact, The Waves Were
Beginning To Rise In sharp Ridges, Covered with Foam; The Mild
Land-Breeze Had Changed into A Cool Sharp Westerly Wind.
A Fair Wind, However, Was A Comfort, And As I Put On My Clothes, I Began
To Think That By Making a Proper Use Of The Helm And Standing Upright In
The Boat, My Body Would Serve As A Small Sail, When "He, He, Hoe!"
Shouted twenty Voices, On The Larboard Side Of Me. I Started with
Astonishment, As May Be Imagined, And Turning Round, Perceived, Fifty
Yards From Me, A Large Boat Driving Before The Waves, Impelled on By Ten
Oars. It Was Filled with Men, Casks, And Kegs, And One At The Helm Was
Making Signals, Apparently Inviting Me To Stop. A Few Minutes After, We
Were Close To Each Other; And I Daresay Our Astonishment Was
Mutual,--Theirs To See Me Alone And Without Oars; Mine, To Behold Such A
Wretched spectacle. They Were Evidently The Crew Of A Wrecked vessel,
And Must Have Undergone Frightful Privations And Fatigues, So Emaciated
Was Their Appearance.
No Time, However, Was To Be Lost. All Of Them Asked for Water, And
Pointed to The Horizon, To Know In which Direction They Should Go. My
Stone Jug Was Full; I Handed it To The Man At The Helm, Who Seemed to Be
The Captain; But The Honest And Kind-Hearted fellow, Pouring Out A Small
Quantity In the Cup, Gave Some To All His Companions Before He Would
Taste Any Himself. The Jug Was A Large One, Containing Two Gallons Or
More, But Of Course Was Soon Emptied.
I Gave Them A Fried mackerel, Which I Had Kept For My Supper; They
Passed it To The Captain, And, In spite Of His Generous Denial, They
Insisted upon His Eating It Immediately. Seeing Which, I Showed them
Nine Or Ten Other Raw Fishes, Two Or Three Of Which Were Heavy, And
Proposed to Cook Them. They Sang And Laughed: Cook The Fish! No; Little
Cooking Is Wanted when Men Are Starving. They Divided them Brotherly;
And This Supply, Added to The Honey For The Captain And The Bear'S
Grease For The Sailors, Seemed to Have Endowed them With New Life.
The Captain And Four Of The Men, With Oars, Stepped into My Skiff. At
That Moment The Stars Were Beginning To Appear; And Pointing Out To Him
One In the East As A Guide, We Ploughed our Way Towards The Shore,
Greatly Favoured both By The Wind And The Waves. In a Singular Mixture
Of English, French, Italian, And Latin, The Captain Made Me Comprehend
That His Vessel Had Been A Russian Brig, Bound From Asitka, In russian
America, To Acapulco, In mexico, For A Supply Of Grain, Tallow, And
Spirits; That It Had Been Destroyed by Fire During The Night, Scarcely
Allowing Time For The Men To Launch The Long-Boat. No Provisions Could
Be Procured; The Boxes And Kegs That Had Been Taken In the Hurry Were Of
No Use; That They Had Been Rowing Forty-Eight Hours Without Food Or
Water, And Were Ignorant Of Their Distance From The Shore; And, Finally,
That They Had Perceived my Skiff A Good Half-Hour Before I Awoke;
Thought It At First Empty, But Saw Me Rising, And Called to Me, In the
Hope That I Would Guide Them To A Landing-Place. In return I Explained
To Him My Adventure As Well As I Could, And Made Him Promises Of Plenty
For The Next Day; But I Might Have Talked for Ever To No Purpose; The
Poor Fellow, Overpowered with Fatigue, And Now Feeling Secure, Had Sunk
Into A Deep Sleep.
At The Break Of Day We Made The Land, At The Entrance Of A Small River
And Close To Some Find Old Ruins. It Was The Very Spot Where I Had
Intended to Go With The Padre. There Were A Few Wild Horses Rambling In
The Neighbourhood; I Cleaned my Gun, Loaded it Again, And Killed one;
But Not Before The Tired and Hungry Crew, Stretched on The Strand,
Proved by Their Nasal Concerts That For The Present Their Greatest
Necessity Was Repose After Their Fatigues. There Were Twenty Of Them,
Including The Captain.
I Had Led too Much Of An Indian Life, Not To Know How To Bear Fatigue,
And To Be Rapid In execution. The Sun Was Not More Than Three Hours
High, When I Had Already Cooked the Best Part Of The Horse. All The
Unfortunates Were Still Asleep, And I Found It Was No Easy Matter To
Awake Them. At Last, I Hit Upon An Expedient Which Did Not Fail; I Stuck
The Ramrod Of My Gun Into A Smoking Piece Of Meat, And Held It So That
The Fumes Should Rise Under Their Very Noses. No Fairy Wand Was Ever
More Effective; In less Than Two Minutes They Were All Chewing and
Swallowing Their Breakfast, With An Energy That Had Anything But Sleep
In It. It Is No Easy Matter To Satisfy Twenty Hungry Russians; But Still
There Is An End To Everything. One Of Them Knelt Before Me And Kissed my
Feet. Poor Fellow! He Thought That I Had Done A Great Deal For Him And
His Companions, Forgetting That Perhaps I Owed my Own Life To Them.
The Men Were Tired: But When They Heard That They Could Reach A City In
The Afternoon, They Made Preparation For Departure With Great Alacrity.
We Pulled slowly Along The Coast, For The Heat Was Intense, And The
Rowers Fast Losing Their Strength. At One O'Clock I Landed at My Former
Encampment. The Padre Had, Of Course, Left The Oars, Sail, And Blankets.
My Skiff Was Rigged in a Moment; And Out Of The Blankets, Those In the
Long-Boat Managed to Make A Sail, An Oar And A Long Pole Tied together
Answering For A Mast. In doubling The Northern Point Of The Bay, I
Perceived the Mexican Schooner And Many Boats, Pretty Far At Sea. No
Doubt They Were Searching For Me.
At Six O'Clock In the Evening We Landed at Monterey, Amidst The
Acclamations Of A Wondering Crowd.
I Was A General Favourite, And My Loss Had Occasioned much Alarm; So
That When I Landed i Was Assailed with Questions From Every Quarter. The
Women Petted me, Some Kissed me (By-The-Bye, Those Were D'Un Certain
Age), And All Agreed that I Should Burn Half A Dozen Of Candles On The
Altar Of The Virgin Mary. There Was One, However, Who Had Wept For Me;
It Was Isabella, A Lovely Girl Of Fifteen, And Daughter To The Old
Governor. The General, Too, Was Glad To See Me; He Liked me Very Much,
Because We Played chess While Smoking Our Cigars, And Because I Allowed
Him To Beat Me, Though I Could Have Given Him The Queen And The Move. I
Will Confess, Sotto Voce, That This Piece Of Policy Had Been Hinted to
Me By His Daughters, Who Wished me To Find Favour In his Sight.
"Dios Te Ayuda Nino," Said The Governor To Me; I Feared we Should Never
Play Chess Any More. "Que Tonteria, Andar A Dormir In una Barca, Quando
Se Lo Podia Sobre Tierra Firma!" (What Folly To Go Sleep In a Boat, When
It Can Be Done Upon Solid Ground!)
I Told Him The Story Of The Poor Russians, And In spite Of His Pride,
The Tears Started in his Eye, For He Was Kind-Hearted. He Took The
Captain Into His Own House, And Gave Orders Concerning The Accommodation
Of The Crew; But The Universal Hospitality Had Not Waited for Commands
To Show Itself, And The Poor Fellows, Loaded with Attention And
Comforts, Soon Forgot The Dangers Which They Had Escaped. Fifteen Days
After They Were Sent On Board The Mexican Schooner, To The Bay Of St.
Francisco, Where A Russian Brig Of War, Bound To Asitka, Had Just
Arrived. However, They Did Not Part From Us With Empty Hands. The
Montereyans Having Discovered their Passionate Love For Tallow And
Whiskey, Had Given Them Enough Of These Genteel Rafraichissements, To
Drown Care And Sorrow For A Long While. As To The Captain, He Received
The Attention Which His Gallant Conduct Entitled him To, And On The Eve
Of His Departure He Was Presented with A Trunk, Of Tolerable Dimensions,
Well Filled with Linen And Clothes.
A Merry Night Was Passed to Celebrate My Escape. Guns Had Been Fired,
Flags Hoisted to Recall The Boats, And At Ten O'Clock In the Night, The
Whole Population Was Gamboling On The Lawn, Singing, Dancing, And
Feasting, As If It Was To Have Been Our Last Day Of Pleasure
During Life.
Thus Passed away Four Weeks, And I Must Admit To My Shame, I Had
Willingly Missed two Chances Of Going To Santa Fe. One Morning, However,
All My Dreams Of Further Pleasure Were Dispelled. I Was Just Meditating
Upon My First Declaration Of Love, When Our Old Servant Arrived with
Four Indian Guides. He Had Left The Settlement Seven Days, And Had Come
Almost All The Way By Water. He Had Been Despatched by My Father To
Bring Me Home, If I Had Not Yet Left Monterey. His Intelligence Was
Disastrous; The Prince Had Been Murdered by The Crows; The Shoshones Had
Gone On A War Expedition To Revenge The Death Of The Prince; And My
Father Himself, Who Had Been Daily Declining, Expected in a Short Time
To Rejoin His Friend In a Better World. Poor Isabella! I Would Have
Added, Poor Me! But The Fatal News Brought Had So Excited me, That I Had
But Few Thoughts To Give To Pleasure And To Love. My Immediate Return
Was A Sacred duty, And, Besides, The Shoshones Expected me To Join With
Them On My First War-Path. The Old Governor Judged it Advisable That I
Should Return Home By Sea, As The Arrapahoes Indians Were At That Moment
Enemies Of The Shoshones, And Would Endeavour To Cut Me Off If I Were To
Ascend The Buona Ventura. Before My Departure I Received a Visit From An
Irishman, A Wild Young Fellow Of The Name Of Roche, A Native Of Cork,
And Full Of Fun And Activity. He Had Deserted on The Coast From One Of
The American Vessels, And In spite Of The Promised reward Of Forty
Dollars, He Was Never Discovered, And His Vessel Sailed without Him.
General Morreno Was At First Angry, And Would Have Sent The Poor Devil
To Jail, But Roche Was So Odd And Made So Many Artful Representations Of
The Evils He Had Suffered on Board On Account Of His Being a Catholic,
That The Clergy, And, In fact, All Monterey, Interfered. Roche Soon
Became A Valuable Acquisition To The Community; He Was An Indefatigable
Dancer, And A Good Fiddler. Besides, He Had Already Accustomed himself
To The Mexican Manners And Language, And In a Horse Or Buffalo Hunt None
Were More Successful. He Would Tell Long Stories To The Old Women About
The Wonders Of Erin, The Miracles Of St. Patrick, And About The Stone At
Blarney. In fact, He Was A Favourite With Every One, And Would Have
Become Rich And Happy, Could He Have Settled. Unfortunately For Him, His
Wild Spirit Of Adventure Did Not Allow Him To Enjoy The Quiet Of A
Montereyan Life, And Hearing That There Was A Perspective Of Getting His
Head Broken In the "Settlement Of The Grandees," He Asked permission To
Join My Party.
I Consented that Roche Should Accompany Me: With My Servant And The
Indians, We Embarked on Board Of The Schooner. Many Were The Presents I
Received from The Good People; What With Pistols, Powder, Horses,
Fusils, Knives, And Swords, I Could Have Armed a Whole Legion. The
Governor, His Daughters, And All Those That Could Get Room In the Boats,
Accompanied me As Far As The Northern Part Of The Bay, And It Was With A
Swelling Heart That I Bade My Farewell To Them All.
Comments (0)