Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 9 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— — — — agined they would begin with the extremities: how- ever, my fears were soon dispersed, for they began by_opening the bottom of the belly, As soon as I ved a glimmering of light, I called out lustily be released from a situation in which I was now almost suffocated. It is impossible for me to do jus- tice to the degree and kind of astonishment which sat upon every countenance at hearing a human voice issue from a fish, but more so at seeing a naked man walk upright out of his body; in short, gentle- men, I told them the whole eg Show I have done you, while amazement struck them b. After taking some refreshment, and jumping into the sea to Gleanse myself, 1 swam to my clothes, which lay where I had left them on the shore. As near as 1 can calculate, I was near four hours and a half confined in the stomach of this animal. CHAPTER IX, ADVENTURES IN TURKEY, AND UPON THE RIVER NILE— SEES A BALLOON OVER CONSTANTINOPLE, SHOOTS AT, AND BRINGS IT DOWN; FINDS A FRENCH EXPERI- MENTAL PHILOSOPHER SUSPENDED FROM IT—GOES ON AN EMBASSY TO GRAND CAIRO, AND RETURNS UPON Beadle’s almonds water. ; I need not inform you we had plenty of On the forty-second day of our distress, the water fell as oe as it had risen, and on the forty- sixth we were able to venture down upon terra firma. Our barge was the first pleasing object we saw, about’ two hundred ‘yards from the spot where she sunk. After drying everything that was useful by the heat of the sun, and loading ourselves with necessaries from the stores on board, we set out to recover our lost ground; and found by the nearest Calculation, we had béen carried over garden-Walls, and a variety of inclosures, above one hundred and fifty miles. In four days, after a very tiresome journey on foot, | with thin shoes, we reached the river, which was now THE NILE, WHERE HE IS THROWN INTO AN UNEX- | PECTED SITUATION, AND DETAINED SIX WEEKES, WuHen I was in the sérvice of the Turks, I fre- uently amused myself in a pleasure-barge on the warmore, which commands a view of the whole city of Constantinople, including the Grand Seignior’s Seraglio. One morning, as I was admiring the beauty and serenity of the sky, I observed a globular’ sub- stance in the air, which appeared to be about the size of a’ twelve-inch Bre with somewhat suspended from it. I immediately took up my largest and longest barrel fowling-piece, which I never travel or e even an excursion without, if I can help it; I charged with a ball, and fired at the globe; but to no ae ee, the object being at too great a distance. I | en put in a double quantity of powder, and five or six balls; this second attempt succeeded; all the balls took effect; and tore one side open, and brought it down. Judge my surprise, when a most elegant gilt car, with a man in it, ee of a sheep which seemed to have been ro , fell within two yards eral what the of me: when my astonishment had in some degree | subsided, I ordered my people to row close to this strange aerial traveler. ] tL apoumder TI took him on board my barge (he was a native of | France): he was much indisposed from his stidden fall into the sea, and incapable of ntyaengsn $ after some time, however, he recovered, and gave the fol- lowing account of himself, viz.: ‘* About seven or eight s Since, I cannot tell which, for I have lost my reckoning, having been most of the time where the sun never sets, I ascended from the’ Land’s End in Cornwall, in the Island of Great Britain, in the car from whence I have just been taken, suspended from a very large balloon, and took a sheep with me, to try atmospheric 5 A hymen upon: unfortunately the wind changed within ten minutes after my ascent; and instead of driving toward Exeter, where I in- tended to land, I was driven toward the sea, over _ studied match placed at the touch-hole o to the Barbary confined to its banks, related our adventures to a boy, who kindly accommodated all our wants, and sent us forward ina barge of hisown. Insix days more we arrived at Alexandria, where we took shipping to Constantinople. I was received kindly by the Grand Seignior, and had the honor of seeing the Seraglio, to which his highness introduced me himself. CHAPTER X, PAYS A VISIT DURING THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR TO HIS OLD FRIEND, GENERAL ELLIOTT—SINKS A SPANISH MAN- OF-WAR—WAKES AN OLD WOMAN ON THE AFRICAN COAST—DESTROYS ALL THE ENEMY’S CANNON; FRIGHT- ENS THE COUNT D'ARTOIS, AND SENDS HIM TO PARIS— SAVES THE LIVES OF TWO ENGLISH SPIES WITH THE IDENTICAL SLING THAT KILLED GOLIAH; AND RAISES THE SIEGE. DvurinG the late siege of Gibraltar, I went with a provision-fleet under Lord Rodnéy’s command, to see my old friend General Elliott, who has, by his distin- guished defense of that place, acquired laurels that can never fade. After the usual joy which generall attends the meeting of old friends had subsided, went to examine the state of the garrison, and view the operations of the enemy, for which purpose the general accompanied me. ad brought a most éx- cellent refracting telescope with me from London seem of Dollond, by the help of which I found he enemy were going to discharge a thirty-six- pounder at the spot where We stood. I told the gen- were about; he looked through the lass also, and found my conjectures right. Iimme- by his permission, ordered a forty-eight- to be brought from a neighboring battery, age with so much exactness (having long he art of gunnery) that I was sure of my which I mark. I continued watching the enemy till I saw the their piece; at that very instant I gave the signal for our gun to be fired also. About midway between the two pieces of cammon theballs struck each other with amazing force, and the effect was astonishing! The enemy’s ball recoil- sacar, Wantagh heat any" a t, by rly off, with sixteen others, which it met with in its progress coast; where its force, after passi _ through three masts of vessels that then layin a line which ‘Isuppose I have continued ever since, but | much too high to make observations. “ The ealls of hunger were so pressing, that the in- tended experiments upon heat and ee gave way to'them. I was obliged, on the third day, to kill the sheep for food; and above the moon, and for upward of sixteen hours after so very near the sun that it scorched my eye- brows, I placed the carcase, —— care to skin it first, in that part of the car where the’sun had suffi- cient er, or, in other words, where the balloon did not e it from the sun, by which method it was well roasted in about two hours. This has been my food ever silice.”” Here he paused, and seemed lost in viewing the objects about him. When'I told him the buildings before us were the Grand Seignior’s Se- raglio at Constantinople, he seemed exceedingly af- fec as he had supposed himself in a very different situation. ““The cause,” added he, “‘of my long flight, was ate Moe the failure of a string which was fixed to a valve in the balloon, intended to let out the inflammable air; and if it had not been fired at, and rent in the manner before mentioned, I might, like Mahomet, have been suspended between heaven and earthtill doomsday.” The Grand Seignior, to whom I was introduced by the Imperial, Russian, and French embassadors, em- ployed me to a matter of great importance at Grand Cairo, and which was of such a nature that it must ever remain a secret. I wert there in great state by land; where, having completed the business, I dismissed almost all my attendants, and returned like a private gentleman: the ‘weather was delightful, and that famous river, the Nite, was beautiful beyond all description; in short ‘was tempted to hire a barge, to descend by wat to Alexandria, On the third day of my voyag« he river to rise most amazingly (you have a.. heard, I presume, of the annual overflowing of the Nile), and on the next day if spread the whole coun‘ ty for many leagues on each side! On the fifth, at sunrise, my ba became en led with wha I at first took for ibs; but as the light be- came stronger, I found myself surrounded by al- monds, which were perfectly and in the highest rfection. Upon plumbing with a line, my people ound we were at least sixty feet from the ground, and wnable to advance or retreat. At about éight or nine o’clock, as near as I could judge by the altitude of the sun, the wind rose suddenly, and canted our barge on one side: here she filled, and I saw no more of her for some time. Fortunately we all saved our- selves (six nién and two boys) by clinging to the tree, the boughs of which were equal to our weight, though not to continued behind each other in the harbor, was so much spent, that it only broke its way through the roof of a poor laborer’s hut, about two hundred yards inland, and - destroyed a few teeth an old woman had left, who lay asleep u ing at that time infinitely | | | | | | that of the barge: in this situation we | ix weeks and three days, living upon the | hereafter mention. It _ her back with her mouth open. The ball lodged in her throat. Her husband soon after came home, and endeavored to extract it; but find- ing that impracticable, by the assistance of a rammer he forced it into her stomach. Our ball did excellent service; for it not only repelled the other in the manner just described, but, proceeding as I intended it should, it dismoun the very piece of cannon that had just been employed against us, and forced it into the hold of the ship, where it fell with so much force as to break its way through the bottom. The ship immediately filled and sunk, with above a thou- sand Spanish sailors on board, besides a consider- able number of soldiers. This, to be sure, was a most extraordinary exploit; I will ‘not, however, take the whole merit to myself; my judgment was the eS engine, but chance assisted me a little; for I afterward found, that the man who charged our forty-eight-pounder put in, by mistake, a double quantity of powder, else we could never have suc- ceeded so much beyond all expectation, especially in ee the enemy’s ball. neéral Elliott would have given me a commission for this singular piece of service; but I declined every- thing, except which I received at a crowded table of officers at supper, on the evening of that very day. AsI am very partial to the lish, who are be- yond all doubt a brave people, I determined not to take my leave of the garrison till Thad rendered them another piece of service; and in about three weeks an i ty presented itself. I dressed myself in the habit of a h Priest, and at about one o’clock in the morning stole out of the ee the enemy’s lines, and arrived in the middle of their = where | entered the tent in which the Prince d’Artois was, with the commander-in-chief, and several other officers, in deep counsel, conce a plan to storm the castle next morning. My protection; they suffered me to continue was m there, Rodrtner everything that sed, till they went to their several beds. en I found the white’ camp, and even the sentinels, were wrapped up in the arms of Morpheus, I began my work, which was that of dismounting all their cannon (above three hundred pieces), from forty-eight to twenty-four-pounders, and throwing them three leagues init thesea. Hav- ing no assistance, I found this the hardest task I ever alf-Dime Library. undertook, except swimming to the opposite shore | with the famous Turkish ed by Baron de Tott in 7 irs, which I shall | the carriages to- ls Tame oT. wal psig of ordnance, describ- | ii down, Our two friends no sooner felt ether in the center of the camp, which, to prevent he noise of the wheels being heard, I carried in pairs under my arms; and a noble appearance they made, as high at least asthe rock of Gibraltar. I then lighted a match, by striking a flint stone, situated twenty feet from the ground (in‘an 6ld wall, built b the Moors when a nvaded Spain), with the breec of an iron éight-and-forty-pounder, and so set fire to the whole pile. I forgot to inform you, that I threw all their ammunition-wagons upon the top. Before I applied the lighted match, I had laid the combustibles at the bottom, so judiciously, that the whole was in a blaze ina moment. To prevent sus- — I was one of the first to express my surprise. he whole camp was, as you may imagine, petrified with astonishment; the general conclusion was, that their séntinéls had been bribed, and that seven or eight ments of the garrison had been emploved in this horrid destruction of their artillery. “Mr. Drinkwater, in his account of this famous siege, men- tions the enemy sustaining a great loss by a fire which happened in their camp, but never knew the cause; how should he? as I never divulged it before (though I alone saved Gibraltar by this night's busi- néss), not evén to General Elliott. The Count-d’Ar- tois and all his attendants ran away in their fright, and never re on the road till they reached Paris which they did in about a fortnight; this dreadful conflagration had such an effect upon them, that they were incapable of taking the least refreshment for three months after, but, chameleon-like, lived upon the air. If‘any gentleman will say he doubts the truth of this story, I will fine him a gallon of brandy, and make him drink it at one draught, About two months after I had done the besieged this service, one morning, asI sat at breakfast with General ‘Elliot, a shell (for I had no time to destroy their mortars as well as their cannon) entered the apartment we were sitting in; it seared upon our table: the general, as most men would do, quitted the room directly; but I took it up before it burst, and carried it to the top of the rock; when, looking over the enemy’s camp, on an eminence near the sea- coast, I observed a considerable number of people, but could not, with my naked eye, discover how they were employed. I had recourse again to my tele- scope, when I found that two of our officers, one a eke the other a colonel, with whom I had spent e preceding evening, and who went out into the enemy’s camp about midnight as spies, were taken, and then were actually going to be executed on a gibbet. I found the distance too great to throw the shell with my hand; but most fortunately recollect- ing that I had the very sling in my pocket which as- sisted David in slaying Goliah, I placed the shell in it, and immediately threw it into the midst of them: it burst as it fell, and destroyed all present, except the two culprits, who were saved by being nded so high, for they were just turned off: however, one of the pieces of the'shell flew with such force against. the foot of the gibbet, that it immediately brought it -rra firma, than they looked about for the cause; and, finding their guards, executioner and all, had taken it in their heads to die first, they directly extricated each other from their disgraceful cords: and then ran down to the sea-shore, seized a Spanish boat with two men in it, and made them row to one of our . which they did with great safety; andin a few - utes after, when I was relating to General Elliott how T had ey they cna oo us a —_ hand, and, after mutual congra ions, were to spen day with festivity. — CHAPTER XI. AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE BARON’S ANCESTORS—- A QUARREL RELATIVE TO THE SPOT WHERE NOAH BUILT HIS ARK—-THE HISTORY OF THE SLING AND ITS PROPERTIES—A FAVORITE POET INTRODUCED UPON NO VERY REPUTABLE OCCASION—-QUEEN ELIZABETH’S AR- STINENCE—THE BARON’S FATHER CROSSES FROM ENG- LAND TO HOLLAND UPON A MARINE HORSE, WHICH HE SELLS FOR SEVEN HUNDRED DUCATS. _ You wish (I can see by your countenances) I would inform you how I became ssed of such a treas- ure as the sling just mentioned. (Here facts must be held sacred). Thus then it was: Iam a descend- ant of the wife of Uriah, whom we all know David was intimate with; she had several children by his majesty; they quarreled once upon a matter of the first consequence, viz., the spot where Noah's ark was built, and where 4 TaanaasT on the flood. A separation consequently ensued. e had often heard him a of this sling, as his most invaluable treasure: she stole the ~ they parted: it was missed before she got out of his dominions, and she was pursued by no less than six of the king’s body- : however, by using it herself, she hit the first of them (for one was more active in the pursuit than the rest) where David did Goliah, and killed him on the _— His companions were so alarmed at his fall, that they retired, and left Uriah’s wife to pur- sue her journey. She took with her, I should have informed you before, her favorite son by this con- nection, to whom she bequeathed the sling; and thus it has, without interruption, descended from father to son till it came ino my eis Ms of = ssors, my great-great-great-grandiather, who lived about fo hundred and fifty upon a visit to England, and became poet, who was a t deer-stealer; I think his name was Shaks ‘ he frequently borrowed this sling, and with it killed so much of Sir Thomas Lucy's venison, that he narrowly escaped the fate of my two friends at Gibraltar. Poor Shakspeare was im- prisoned, and my ancestor obtained his freedom in a very singular manner. Queen Elizabeth was then on the throne, but grown so indolent, that every trifling ose ago, was ntimate with a EOmichbookseeo