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- 836
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
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- 782
- text
- CHAPTER VI.
WE TOUCH AT LA DOMINICA
Fearful of spending another night at Hytyhoo, Captain Guy caused the
ship to be got under way shortly after dark.
The next morning, when all supposed that we were fairly embarked for a
long cruise, our course was suddenly altered for La Dominica, or
Hivarhoo, an island just north of the one we had quitted. The object of
this, as we learned, was to procure, if possible, several English
sailors, who, according to the commander of the corvette, had recently
gone ashore there from an American whaler, and were desirous of
shipping aboard one of their own country vessels.
We made the land in the afternoon, coming abreast of a shady glen
opening from a deep bay, and winding by green denies far out of sight.
“Hands by the weather-main-brace!” roared the mate, jumping up on the
bulwarks; and in a moment the prancing Julia, suddenly arrested in her
course, bridled her head like a steed reined in, while the foam flaked
under her bows.
This was the place where we expected to obtain the men; so a boat was
at once got in readiness to go ashore. Now it was necessary to provide
a picked crew—men the least likely to abscond. After considerable
deliberation on the part of the captain and mate, four of the seamen
were pitched upon as the most trustworthy; or rather they were selected
from a choice assortment of suspicious characters as being of an
inferior order of rascality.
Armed with cutlasses all round—the natives were said to be an ugly
set—they were followed over the side by the invalid captain, who, on
this occasion, it seems, was determined to signalize himself.
Accordingly, in addition to his cutlass, he wore an old boarding belt,
in which was thrust a brace of pistols. They at once shoved off.
My friend Long Ghost had, among other things which looked somewhat
strange in a ship’s forecastle, a capital spy-glass, and on the present
occasion we had it in use.
When the boat neared the head of the inlet, though invisible to the
naked eye, it was plainly revealed by the glass; looking no bigger than
an egg-shell, and the men diminished to pigmies.
At last, borne on what seemed a long flake of foam, the tiny craft shot
up the beach amid a shower of sparkles. Not a soul was there. Leaving
one of their number by the water, the rest of the pigmies stepped
ashore, looking about them very circumspectly, pausing now and then
hand to ear, and peering under a dense grove which swept down within a
few paces of the sea. No one came, and to all appearances everything
was as still as the grave. Presently he with the pistols, followed by
the rest flourishing their bodkins, entered the wood and were soon lost
to view. They did not stay long; probably anticipating some
inhospitable ambush were they to stray any distance up the glen.
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