There were times when I thought I could have
heard the pious sound of psalms out of the martyr's dungeons, and
seen the soldiers tramp the ramparts with their glinting pipes, and
the dawn rising behind them out of the North Sea.
No doubt it was a good deal Andie and his tales that put these
fancies in my head. He was extraordinarily well acquainted with
the story of the rock in all particulars, down to the names of
private soldiers, his father having served there in that same
capacity. He was gifted besides with a natural genius for
narration, so that the people seemed to speak and the things to be
done before your face. This gift of his and my assiduity to listen
brought us the more close together. I could not honestly deny but
what I liked him; I soon saw that he liked me; and indeed, from the
first I had set myself out to capture his good-will. An odd
circumstance (to be told presently) effected this beyond my
expectation; but even in early days we made a friendly pair to be a
prisoner and his gaoler.
I should trifle with my conscience if I pretended my stay upon the
Bass was wholly disagreeable.
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