However, I had a handsome allowance, and permission to go to England as
soon as I pleased. The Swedes were then at war with the Russians, and
were fitting out their fleet; but, Lord bless them! they didn't know
much about it. I amused myself walking in the dockyard, and looking at
their motions; but they had not thirty men in the fleet who knew what
they were about, and, as for a man to set them going, there wasn't one.
Well, Peter, you know I could not be idle, and so by degrees I told one,
and then told another--until they went the right way to work; and the
captains and officers were very much obliged to me. At last, they all
came to me, and if they did not understand me entirely, I showed them
how to do it with my own hands; and the fleet began to make a show with
their rigging. The admiral who commanded was very much obliged, and I
seemed to come as regularly to my work as if I was paid for it. At last,
the admiral came with an English interpreter, and asked me whether I was
anxious to go back to England, or would I like to join their service. I
saw what they wanted, and I replied that I had neither wife nor child in
England, and that I liked their country very much; but I must take time
to consider of it, and must also know what they had to propose. I went
home to my lodgings, and, to make them more anxious, I did not make my
appearance at the dockyard for three or four days, when a letter came
from the admiral, offering me the command of a frigate if I would join
their service.
Pages:
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649