The Adventures of Roderick Random
will be impossible for you to find shelter among them. If you should be
apprehended, he will commit you to jail, where you may possibly in
great misery languish till the next assizes, and then be transported
for assaulting a magistrate.”
While she thus warned me of my danger, we heard a knocking at the door,
which threw us both into great consternation, as in all probability, it
was occasioned by my pursuers; whereupon this generous old lady,
putting two guineas into my hand, with tears in her eyes, bade me, for
God’s sake, get out at the back-door and consult my safety as
Providence should direct me. There was no time for deliberation. I
followed her advice, and escaped by the benefit of a dark night to the
seaside, where, while I ruminated on my next excursion, I was all of a
sudden surrounded by armed men, who, having bound my hands and feet,
bade me make no noise on pain of being shot, and carried me on board of
a vessel, which I soon perceived to be a smuggling cutter. This
discovery gave me some satisfaction at first, because I concluded
myself safe from the resentment of Sir Timothy; but, when I found
myself in the hands of ruffians, who threatened to execute me for a
spy, I would have thought myself happily quit for a year’s
imprisonment, or even transportation. It was in vain for me to protest
my innocence: I could not persuade them that I had taken a solitary
walk to their haunt, at such an hour, merely for my own amusement; and
I did not think it my interest to disclose the true cause of my
retreat, because I was afraid they would have made their peace with
justice by surrendering me to the penalty of the law. What confirmed
their suspicion was, the appearance of a custom-house yacht, which gave
them chase, and had well nigh made a prize of their vessel; when they
were delivered from their fears by a thick fog, which effectually
screened them, and favoured their arrival at Boulogne. But, before they
got out of sight of their pursuer, they held a council of war about me,
and some of the most ferocious among them would have thrown me
overboard as a traitor who had betrayed them to their enemies; but
others, more considerate, alleged, that if they put me to death, and
should afterwards be taken, they could expect no mercy from the
legislature, which would never pardon outlawry aggravated by murder. It
was therefore determined by a plurality of votes, that I should be set
on shore in France, and left to find my way back to England, as I
should think proper, this being punishment sufficient for the bare
suspicion of a crime in itself not capital.
Although this favourable determination gave me great pleasure, the
apprehension of being robbed would not suffer me to be perfectly at
ease. To prevent this calamity, as soon as I was untied, in consequence
of the aforesaid decision, I tore a small hole in one of my stockings,
into which I dropped six guineas, reserving half a piece and some
silver in my pocket, that, finding something, they might not be tempted
to make any further inquiry. This was a very necessary precaution, for,
when we came within sight of the French shore, one of the smugglers
told me, I must pay for my passage. To this declaration I replied, that
my passage was none of my own seeking; therefore they could not expect
a reward from me for transporting me into a strange country by force.
“D—me!” said the outlaw, “none of your palaver; but let me see what
money you have got.” So saying, he thrust his hand into my pocket
without any ceremony, and emptied it of the contents; then, casting an
eye at my hat and wig, which captivated his fancy, he took them off,
clapping his own on my head, declared, that a fair exchange was no
robbery. I was fain to put up with this bargain, which was by no means
favourable to me; and a little while after we went all on shore
together.
I resolved to take my leave of those desperadoes without much ceremony,
when one of them cautioned me against appearing to their prejudice if
ever I returned to England, unless I had a mind to be murdered; for
which service, he assured me, the gang never wanted agents. I promised
to observe his advice, and departed for the Upper Town, where I
inquired for a cabaret, or public-house, into which I went, with an
intention of taking some refreshment. In the kitchen, five Dutch
sailors sat at breakfast with a large loaf, a firkin of butter, and a
keg of brandy, the bung of which they often applied to their mouths
with great perseverance and satisfaction. At some distance from them I
perceived another person in the same garb, sitting in a pensive
solitary manner, entertaining himself with a whiff of tobacco, from the
stump of a pipe as black as jet. The appearance of distress never
failed to attract my regard and compassion. I approached this forlorn
tar with a view to offer him my assistance, and, notwithstanding the
alteration of dress and disguise of a long beard, I discovered in him
my long lost and lamented uncle and benefactor, Lieutenant Bowling!
Good Heaven! what were the agitations of my soul, between the joy of
finding again such a valuable friend, and the sorrow of seeing him in
such a low condition! The tears gushed down my cheeks; I stood
motionless and silent for some time. At length, recovering the use of
speech, I exclaimed, “Gracious God! Mr. Bowling!” My uncle no sooner
heard his name mentioned, than he started up, crying, with some
surprise, “Holla!” and, after having looked at me steadfastly, without
being able to recollect me, said, “Did you call me, brother,” I told
him I had something extraordinary to communicate, and desired him to
give me the hearing for a few minutes in another room; but he would by
no means consent to this proposal, saying, “Avast there, friend: none
of your tricks upon travellers;—if you have anything to say to me, do
it above board;—you need not be afraid of being overheard;—here are
none who understand our lingo.” Though I was loth to discover myself
before company, I could no longer refrain from telling him I was his
own nephew, Roderick Random. On this information, he considered me with
great earnestness and astonishment, and, recalling my features, which,
though enlarged, were not entirely altered since he had seen me, came
up, and shook me by the hand very cordially, protesting he was glad to
see me well. After some pause, he went on thus; “And yet, my lad, I am
sorry to see you under such colours; the more so, as it is not in my
power, at present, to change them for the better, times being very hard
with me,” With these words I could perceive a tear trickle down his
furrowed cheek, which affected me so much that I wept bitterly.
Imagining my sorrow was the effect of my own misfortunes, he comforted
me with observing, that life was a voyage in which we must expect to
meet with all weathers; sometimes was calm, sometimes rough; that a
fair gale often succeeded a storm; that the wind did not always sit one
way, and that despair signified nothing; that resolution and skill were
better than a stout vessel: for why? because they require no carpenter,
and grow stronger the more labour they undergo. I dried up my tears,
which I assured him were not shed for my own distress, but for his, and
begged leave to accompany him into another room, where we could
converse more at our ease. There I recounted to him the ungenerous
usage I had met with from Potion; at which relation he started up,
stalked across the room three or four times in a great hurry, and,
grasping his cudgel, cried, “I would I were alongside of him—that’s
all—I would I were alongside of him!” I then gave him a detail of my
adventures and sufferings, which affected him more than I could have
imagined; and concluded with telling him that Captain Oakun was still
alive, and that he might return to England when he would to solicit his
affairs, without danger or molestation. He was wonderfully pleased with
this piece of information, of which, however, he said he could not at
present avail himself, for want of money to pay for his passage to
London. This objection I soon removed, by putting five guineas into his
hand, and telling him I thought myself extremely happy in having an
opportunity of manifesting my gratitude to him in his necessity. But it
was with the utmost difficulty I could prevail upon him to accept of
two, which he affirmed were more than sufficient to defray the
necessary expense.
After this friendly contest was over, he proposed we should have a mess
of something; “For,” said he, “it has been banyan day with me a great
while. You must know I was shipwrecked, five days ago, near a place
called Lisieux, in company with those Dutchmen who are now drinking
below; and having but little money when I came ashore, it was soon
spent, because I let them have share and share while it lasted.
Howsomever, I should have remembered the old saying, every hog his own
apple; for when they found my hold unstowed, they went all hands to
shooling and begging; and, because I would not take a spell at the same
duty, refused to give me the least assistance; so that I have not broke
bread these two days.” I was shocked at the extremity of his distress,
and ordered some bread, cheese, and wine, to be brought immediately, to
allay his hunger, until a fricassee of chickens could be prepared. When
he had recruited his spirits with this homely fare, I desired to know
the particulars of his peregrination since the accident at Cape
Tiberoon, which were briefly these: The money he had about him being
all spent at Port Louis, the civility and hospitality of the French
cooled to such a degree, that he was obliged to list on board one of
their king’s ships as a common foremast man, to prevent himself from
starving on shore. In this situation he continued two years, during
which time he had acquired some knowledge of their language, and the
reputation of a good seaman; the ship he belonged to was ordered home
to France, where she was laid up as unfit for service, and he was
received on board one of Monsieur D’Antin’s squadron, in quality of
quartermaster; which office he performed in a voyage to the West
Indies, where he engaged with our ship, as before related; but his
conscience upbraiding him for serving the one enemies of his country,
he quitted the ship at the same place where he first listed, and got to
Curacoa in a Dutch vessel; there he bargained with a skipper, bound to
Europe, to work for his passage to Holland, from whence he was in hopes
of hearing from his friends in England; but was cast away, as he
mentioned before, on the French coast, and must have been reduced to
the necessity of travelling on foot to Holland, and begging for his
subsistence on the road, or of entering on board of another French
man-of-war, at the hazard of being treated as a deserter, if Providence
had not sent me to his succour. “And now, my lad,” continued he, “I
think I shall steer my course directly to London, where I do not doubt
of being replaced, and of having the R taken off me by the Lords of the
Admiralty, to whom I intend to write a petition, setting forth my case;
if I succeed, I shall have wherewithal to give you some assistance,
because, when I left the ship, I had two years’ pay due to me,
therefore I desire to know whither you are bound: and besides, perhaps,
I may have interest enough to procure a warrant appointing you
surgeon’s mate of the ship to which I shall belong—for the beadle of
the Admiralty is my good friend: and he and one of the under clerks are
sworn brothers, and that under clerk has a good deal to say with one of
the upper clerks, who is very well known to the under secretary, who,
upon his recommendation, I hope, will recommend my affair to the first