"There's where my ship lays, guns and all," he said, pressing his hands
on his knees. "My men used to call this island 'No Man's Island,' and
they named that place 'The Cave of Enchantment.' Then they named it
after me. The natives on an island ten leagues from this have a queer
superstition concerning it. They call it the devil's last resting place,
and assert that it is peopled by mermaids, who get honest navigators
into it, and then destroy them. My ship lays there, guns and all," he
repeated.
When Tite had finished his story, the old man began his by saying:
"Heaven forgive me, for I am a great sinner, and have much to answer for
in the next world. I was born in Bristol, England. My father was a
clergyman of the established church. I have no remembrance of my mother,
for she died when I was an infant. When I was fifteen years old I was
sent to sea as a means of bettering my morals. I served first on board
an Indiaman, made two voyages to China, and was wrecked on the coast of
Malabar; and when I got home my father or friends procured me the
position of midshipman on board a man-of-war.
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