CHAPTER XXXVI
A strange adventure--in consequence of which I am extremely happy--Crampley does me in offices with the Captain; but his malice is defeated by the good-nature and friendship of the surgeon--we return to Port Royal--our Captain gets the command of a larger ship, and is succeeded by an old man--Brayl is provided for--we receive orders to sail for England
When my patients were all in a fair way, my companion and commander, whose name was Brayl, carried me up the country to the house of a rich planter, with whom he was acquainted, where we were sumptuously entertained, and in the evening set out on our return to the ship. When we had walked about a mile by moonlight, we perceived a horseman behind us, who coming up, wished us good even, and asked which way we went? His voice, which was quite familiar to me, no sooner struck my ear, than in spite of all my resolution and reflection, my hair bristled up, and I was seized with a violent fit of trembling, which Brayl misinterpreting, bade me be under no concern. I told him he was mistaken in the cause of my disorder; and, addressing myself to the person on horseback said, "I could have sworn by your voice, that you were a dear friend of mine, if I had not been certain of his death." To this address, after some pause, he replied, "There are many voices as well as faces that resemble one another; but, pray, what was your friend's name." I satisfied him in that particular, and gave a short detail of the melancholy fate of Thompson, not without many sighs and some tears. A silence ensued, which lasted some minutes, and then the conversation turned on different subjects, till we arrived at a house on the road, where the horseman alighted, and begged with so much earnestness that we would go in and drink a bowl of punch with him, that we could not resist. But, if I was alarmed at his voice, what must my amazement be, when I discovered by the light the very person of my lamented friend! Perceiving my confusion, which was extreme, he clasped me in his arms, and bedewed my face with tears. It was some time ere I recovered the use of my reason, overpowered with this event, and longer still before I could speak. So that all I was capable of was to return his embraces, and to mingle the overflowings of my joy with his; whilst honest Brayl, affected with the scene, wept as fast as either of us, and signified his participation of our happiness by hugging us both, and capering about the room like a madman. At length, I retrieved the use of my tongue, and cried, "Is it possible! you can be my friend Thompson? No certainly, alas! he was drowned; and I am now under the deception of a dream!" He was at great pains to convince me of his being the individual person whom I regretted, and bidding me sit down and compose myself, promised to explain his sudden disappearance from the Thunder, and to account for his being at present in the land of the living. This task he acquitted himself of, after I had drunk a glass of punch, and recollected my spirits, by informing us, that with a determination to rid himself of a miserable existence, he bad gone in the night-time to the head, while the ship was on her way, from whence he slipped down as softly as he could, by the bows into the sea, where, after he was heartily ducked, he began to repent of his precipitation; and, as he could swim very well, kept himself above water, in hopes of being taken up by some of the ships astern; that, in this situation, he hailed a large vessel, and begged to be taken in, but was answered that she was a heavy sailer, and therefore they did not choose to lose time by bringing to; however, they threw an old chest overboard for his convenience, and told him, that some of the ships astern would certainly save him; that no other vessel came within sight or cry of him for the space of three hours, during which time he had the mortification to find himself in the middle of the ocean alone, without other support or resting-place, but what a few crazy boards afforded; till at last be discerned a small sloop steering towards him, upon which he set up his throat, and had the good fortune to be heard and rescued from the dreary waste by their boat, which was hoisted out on purpose.