'
'It would be no difficult matter to provide you with an asylum in
the country (replied my uncle); but a life of indolence and
obscurity would not suit with your active and enterprizing
disposition -- I would therefore advise you to try your fortune in
the East Indies -- I will give you a letter to a friend in London,
who will recommend you to the direction, for a commission in the
company's service; and if that cannot be obtained, you will at
least be received as a volunteer -- in which case, you may pay for
your passage, and I shall undertake to procure you such
credentials, that you will not be long without a commission.'
Martin embraced the proposal with great eagerness; it was
therefore resolved, that he should sell his horse, and take a
passage by sea for London, to execute the project without delay --
In the mean time he accompanied us to Durham, were we took up our
quarters for the night. Here, being furnished with letters from my
uncle, he took his leave of us, with strong symptoms of gratitude
and attachment, and set out for Sunderland, in order to embark in
the first collier, bound for the river Thames. He had not been
gone half an hour, when we were joined by another character,
which promised something extraordinary -- A tall, meagre figure,
answering, with his horse, the description of Don Quixote mounted
on Rozinante, appeared in the twilight at the inn door, while my
aunt and Liddy stood at a window in the dining-room -- He wore a
coat, the cloth of which had once been scarlet, trimmed with
Brandenburgs, now totally deprived of their metal, and he had
holstercaps and housing of the same stuff and same antiquity.
Pages:
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343