roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xvii
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— | roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xvii [2005/11/22 17:55] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | ===== CHAPTER XVII ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Voyage eastward--The Baron introduces a friend who never deceived | ||
+ | him: wins a hundred guineas by pinning his faith upon that | ||
+ | friend' | ||
+ | will, it is hoped, afford the reader no small degree of | ||
+ | amusement.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a voyage which I made to the East Indies with Captain Hamilton, I | ||
+ | took a favourite pointer with me; he was, to use a common phrase, | ||
+ | worth his weight in gold, for he never deceived me. One day when we | ||
+ | were, by the best observations we could make, at least three hundred | ||
+ | leagues from land, my dog pointed; I observed him for near an hour | ||
+ | with astonishment, | ||
+ | every officer on board, asserting that we must be near land, for my | ||
+ | dog smelt game. This occasioned a general laugh; but that did not | ||
+ | alter in the least the good opinion I had of my dog. After much | ||
+ | conversation pro and con, I boldly told the captain I placed more | ||
+ | confidence in Tray's nose than I did in the eyes of every seaman on | ||
+ | board, and therefore proposed laying the sum I had agreed to pay for | ||
+ | my passage (viz., one hundred guineas) that we should find game within | ||
+ | half an hour. The captain (a good, hearty fellow) laughed again, | ||
+ | desired Mr. Crowford the surgeon, who was prepared, to feel my pulse; | ||
+ | he did so, and reported me in perfect health. The following dialogue | ||
+ | between them took place; I overheard it, though spoken low, and at | ||
+ | some distance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | CAPTAIN | ||
+ | His brain is turned; I cannot with honour accept his wager. | ||
+ | |||
+ | SURGEON | ||
+ | I am of a different opinion; he is quite sane, and depends more upon | ||
+ | the scent of his dog than he will upon the judgment of all the | ||
+ | officers on board; he will certainly lose, and he richly merits it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | CAPTAIN | ||
+ | Such a wager cannot be fair on my side; however, I'll take him up, if | ||
+ | I return his money afterwards. | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the above conversation Tray continued in the same situation, | ||
+ | and confirmed me still more in my former opinion. I proposed the wager | ||
+ | a second time, it was then accepted. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Done! and done! were scarcely said on both sides, when some sailors | ||
+ | who were fishing in the long-boat, which was made fast to the stern of | ||
+ | the ship, harpooned an exceeding large shark, which they brought on | ||
+ | board and began to cut up for the purpose of barrelling the oil, when, | ||
+ | behold, they found no less than //six brace of live partridges// | ||
+ | animal' | ||
+ | |||
+ | They had been so long in that situation, that one of the hens was | ||
+ | sitting upon four eggs, and a fifth was hatching when the shark was | ||
+ | opened!!! This young bird we brought up by placing it with a litter of | ||
+ | kittens that came into the world a few minutes before! The old cat was | ||
+ | as fond of it as of any of her own four-legged progeny, and made | ||
+ | herself very unhappy, when it flew out of her reach, till it returned | ||
+ | again. As to the other partridges, there were four hens amongst them; | ||
+ | one or more were, during the voyage, constantly sitting, and | ||
+ | consequently we had plenty of game at the captain' | ||
+ | gratitude to poor Tray (for being a means of winning one hundred | ||
+ | guineas) I ordered him the bones daily, and sometimes a whole bird. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER XVIII]] | ||
+ | |||
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_xvii.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 17:55 by 127.0.0.1