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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's nose--Game started at sea--Some other circumstances which
 +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, and mentioned the circumstance to the captain and
 +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// in this
 +animal's stomach!
 +
 +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's table; and in
 +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