Fiction > Book editions > London, 1886 - Kidnapped
(75) Page 61
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I GO TO SEA IN THE COVENANT OF DYSART. 61 come to an end; but in these days of my youth, white men were still sold into slavery on the plantations, and that was the destiny to which my wicked uncle had con- demned me. The cabin-boy Ransome (from whom I had first heard of these atrocities) came in at times from the round-house, where he berthed and served, now nursing a bruised limb in silent agony, now raving against the cruelty of Mr. Shuan. It made my heart bleed; but the men had a great respect for the chief mate, who was, as they said, " the only seaman of the whole jing-bang, and none such a bad man when he was sober." Indeed, I found there was a strange peculiarity about our two mates : that Mr. Riach was sullen, unkind, and harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would not hurt a fly except when he was drinking. I asked about the captain; but I was told drink made no difference upon that man of iron. I did my best in the small time allowed me to make something like a man, or rather I should say something like a boy, of the poor creature, Ransome. But his mind was scarce truly human. He could remember nothing of the time before he came to sea ; only that his father had made clocks, and had a starling in the parlour, which could whistle " The North Countrie; " all else had been blotted out in these years of hardship and cruelties. He had a strange notion of the dry land, picked up from sailors' stories: that it was a place where lads were put to some kind of slavery called a trade, and where appren-
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Early editions of Robert Louis Stevenson > Fiction > Book editions > Kidnapped > (75) Page 61 |
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Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74555002 |
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Attribution and copyright: |
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More information |
Person / organisation: |
Balfour, David (Fictitious character) [Subject of text] |
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Form / genre: |
Written and printed matter > Books |
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Dates / events: |
1886 [Date published] Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 [Date/event in text] |
Places: |
Europe >
United Kingdom >
England >
Greater London >
London
(inhabited place) [Place published] |
Subject / content: |
Children's literature Fiction First editions Scottish Adventure stories |
Person / organisation: |
Cassell & Company [Publisher] Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 [Author] |
Person / organisation: |
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 [Author] |
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