Finding That His Stay Might Extend To An Indefinite Period, I Got
Jacob To Construct A Rude Bedstead Out Of Two Large Chests That Had
Transported Some Of Our Goods Across The Atlantic, And Which He
Put In A Corner Of The Parlour.
This I provided with a small
hair-mattress, and furnished with what bedding I could spare.
For the first fornight of his sojourn, our guest did nothing but lie
upon that bed, and read, and smoke, and drink whiskey-and-water from
morning until night. By degrees he let out part of his history; but
there was a mystery about him which he took good care never to clear
up. He was the son of an officer in the navy, who had not only
attained a very high rank in the service, but, for his gallant
conduct, had been made a Knight-Companion of the Bath.
He had himself served his time as a midshipman on board his father's
flag-ship, but had left the navy and accepted a commission in the
Buenos-Ayrean service during the political struggles in that
province; he had commanded a sort of privateer under the government,
to whom, by his own account, he had rendered many very signal
services. Why he left South America and came to Canada he kept a
profound secret. He had indulged in very vicious and dissipated
courses since he came to the province, and by his own account had
spent upwards of four thousand pounds, in a manner not over
creditable to himself.
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