Sea-Adventures Very New and Surprising.
When they arrived at Harwich they found a vessel1, which had put in there, just ready to depart for Rotterdam. So they went immediately on board, and sailed with a fair wind; but they had hardly proceeded out of sight of land when a sudden and violent storm arose and drove them to the southwest; insomuch that the captain apprehended2 it impossible to avoid the Goodwin Sands, and he and all his crew gave themselves up for lost. Mrs. Heartfree, who had no other apprehensions3 from death but those of leaving her dear husband and children, fell on her knees to beseech4 the Almighty’s favour, when Wild, with a contempt of danger truly great, took a resolution as worthy5 to be admired perhaps as any recorded of the bravest hero, ancient or modern; a resolution which plainly proved him to have these two qualifications so necessary to a hero, to be superior to all the energies of fear or pity. He saw the tyrant6 death ready to rescue from him his intended prey7, which he had yet devoured8 only in imagination. He therefore swore he would prevent him, and immediately attacked the poor wretch9, who was in the utmost agonies of despair, first with solicitation10, and afterwards with force.
Mrs. Heartfree, the moment she understood his meaning, which, in her present temper of mind, and in the opinion she held of him, she did not immediately, rejected him with all the repulses11 which indignation and horror could animate12: but when he attempted violence she filled the cabin with her shrieks13, which were so vehement14 that they reached the ears of the captain, the storm at this time luckily abating15. This man, who was a brute16 rather from his education and the element he inhabited than from nature, ran hastily down to her assistance, and, finding her struggling on the ground with our hero, he presently rescued her from her intended ravisher, who was soon obliged to quit the woman, in order to engage with her lusty champion, who spared neither pains nor blows in the assistance of his fair passenger.
When the short battle was over, in which our hero, had he not been overpowered with numbers, who came down on their captain’s side, would have been victorious17, the captain rapped out a hearty18 oath, and asked Wild, if he had no more Christianity in him than to ravish a woman in a storm? To which the other greatly and sullenly19 answered, “It was very well; but d — n him if he had not satisfaction the moment they came on shore.” The captain with great scorn replied, “Kiss, —— ” &c., and then, forcing Wild out of the cabbin, he, at Mrs. Heartfree’s request, locked her into it, and returned to the care of his ship.
The storm was now entirely20 ceased, and nothing remained but the usual ruffling21 of the sea after it, when one of the sailors spied a sail at a distance, which the captain wisely apprehended might be a privateer (for we were then engaged in a war with France), and immediately ordered all the sail possible to be crowded; but his caution was in vain, for the little wind which then blew was directly adverse22, so that the ship bore down upon them, and soon appeared to be what the captain had feared, a French privateer. He was in no condition of resistance, and immediately struck on her firing the first gun. The captain of the Frenchman, with several of his hands, came on board the English vessel, which they rifled of everything valuable, and, amongst the rest, of poor Mrs. Heartfree’s whole cargo23; and then taking the crew, together with the two passengers, aboard his own ship, he determined24, as the other would be only a burthen to him, to sink her, she being very old and leaky, and not worth going back with to Dunkirk. He preserved, therefore, nothing but the boat, as his own was none of the best, and then, pouring a broadside into her, he sent her to the bottom.
The French captain, who was a very young fellow, and a man of gallantry, was presently enamoured to no small degree with his beautiful captive; and imagining Wild, from some words he dropt, to be her husband, notwithstanding the ill affection towards him which appeared in her looks, he asked her if she understood French. She answered in the affirmative, for indeed she did perfectly25 well. He then asked her how long she and that gentleman (pointing to Wild) had been married. She answered, with a deep sigh and many tears, that she was married indeed, but not to that villain26, who was the sole cause of all her misfortunes. That appellation27 raised a curiosity in the captain, and he importuned28 her in so pressing but gentle a manner to acquaint him with the injuries she complained of, that she was at last prevailed on to recount to him the whole history of her afflictions. This so moved the captain, who had too little notions of greatness, and so incensed29 him against our hero, that he resolved to punish him; and, without regard to the laws of war, he immediately ordered out his shattered boat, and, making Wild a present of half-a-dozen biscuits to prolong his misery30, he put him therein, and then, committing him to the mercy of the sea, proceeded on his cruize.
1 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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2 apprehended | |
逮捕,拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 ); 理解 | |
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3 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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4 beseech | |
v.祈求,恳求 | |
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5 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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6 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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7 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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8 devoured | |
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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9 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
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10 solicitation | |
n.诱惑;揽货;恳切地要求;游说 | |
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11 repulses | |
v.击退( repulse的第三人称单数 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
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12 animate | |
v.赋于生命,鼓励;adj.有生命的,有生气的 | |
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13 shrieks | |
n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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14 vehement | |
adj.感情强烈的;热烈的;(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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15 abating | |
减少( abate的现在分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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16 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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17 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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18 hearty | |
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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19 sullenly | |
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地 | |
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20 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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21 ruffling | |
弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 ); 弄乱; 激怒; 扰乱 | |
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22 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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23 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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24 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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25 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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26 villain | |
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因 | |
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27 appellation | |
n.名称,称呼 | |
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28 importuned | |
v.纠缠,向(某人)不断要求( importune的过去式和过去分词 );(妓女)拉(客) | |
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29 incensed | |
盛怒的 | |
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30 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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