They stood upon no ceremony with me. It is true I was only a madhouse
warder, and they probably did not consider it necessary to do so; but
I question very much whether Simon Hart, the engineer, would have
received any more courtesy at their hands.
This time, however, no attempt was made to gag me nor to bind either
my arms or legs. I was simply restrained by main force from breaking
away from them.
In a moment I was dragged out of the compartment and pushed along a
narrow passage. Next, the steps of a metallic stairway resounded under
our feet. Then the fresh air blew in my face and I inhaled it with
avidity.
Finally they took their hands from off me, and I found myself free. I
immediately tore the cloth off my head and gazed about me.
I am on board a schooner which is ripping through the water at a great
rate and leaving a long white trail behind her.
I had to clutch at one of the stays for support, dazzled as I was
by the light after my forty-eight hours' imprisonment in complete
obscurity.
On the deck a dozen men with rough, weather-beaten faces come and
go--very dissimilar types of men, to whom it would be impossible to
attribute any particular nationality. They scarcely take any notice of
me.
As to the schooner, I estimate that she registers from two hundred and
fifty to three hundred tons. She has a fairly wide beam, her masts are
strong and lofty, and her large spread of canvas must carry her along
at a spanking rate in a good breeze.
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