calmlysuch an outrage committed upon an animal which he considered as hisfriend, flew upon him like a fury. The young gentleman received a fallin the scuffle, which, though it did him no material damage, daubedall his clothes, and totally spoiled the whole arrangement of hisdress. At this instant the lady herself, who had heard the noise, camedown, and the violence of poor Jack was too apparent to be excused.Jack, indeed, was very submissive to his mistress whom he was verysorry to have offended; but when he was ordered to make concessions tothe young gentleman, as the only conditions upon which he could bekept in the family, he absolutely refused. He owned, indeed, that hewas much to blame for resenting the provocation he had received, andendeavouring to make his mistress's company ridiculous; but as to whathe had done in defence of his friend the monkey, there were nopossible arguments which could convince him he was in the least toblame; nor would he have made submission to the king himself. Thisunfortunate obstinacy of Jack's was the occasion of his beingdischarged, very much to the regret of the lady herself, and stillmore to that of Master Willets. Jack therefore packed up his clothesin a little bundle, shook all his fellow-servants by the hand, took anaffectionate leave of his kind master and mistress, and once moresallied out upon his travels.
Thus Jack, by indulging the rashness of his temper, which he hadpromised to correct, deprived himself of a valuable service. Hisconduct in the whole of the affair was wrong; in the first place, hehad not any right to turn another person into ridicule; and, in thenext, when he had thus given the first insult, he ought not to havebeen so violent in taking satisfaction for the death of his monkey.But he was still farther to blame for the obstinate manner in which heresisted the request of his mistress to make some apology: he ought tohave remembered that she had been for a long time his kind friend, andthat he was bound to do much more at her desire than make an apologyfor an action in which he was wrong. Such is however the case withrash hot-headed people; they allow their passions to blind theirunderstanding; but they almost always suffer, as Jack did in thiscase, for their misconduct.
He had not walked far before he came to a town, where a party ofsoldiers were beating up for volunteers. Jack mingled with the crowdthat surrounded the recruiting serjeant, and listened with greatpleasure to the sound of the fifes and drums; nor could he helpmechanically holding up his head, and stepping forward with an airthat shewed the trade was not entirely new to him. The serjeant soontook notice of these gestures, and seeing him a strong likely lad,came up to him, clapped him on the back, and asked him if he wouldenlist. "You are a brave boy," said he, "I can see that in yourlooks--come along with us, and I don't doubt but in a few weeks you'llbe as complete a soldier as those who have been in the army foryears." Jack made no answer to this, but by instantly poizing hisstick, cocking his hat fiercely, and going through the whole manualexercise. "Prodigious, indeed!" cried the serjeant; "I see you havebeen in the army already, and can eat fire as well as any of us. Butcome with us, my brave lad, you shall live well, have little to do,but now and then fight for your king and country, as every gentlemanought; and in a short time, I don't doubt but I shall see you acaptain, or some great man, rolling in wealth, which you have got outof the spoils of your enemies."--"Well," said Jack, "as I am atpresent out of employment, and have a great respect for the characterof a gentleman soldier, I will enlist directly in your regiment."--"Abrave fellow, indeed," said the serjeant; "here, my boy, here is yourmoney and your cockade;" both which he directly presented, and thus ina moment Little Jack became a soldier.
He had scarcely time to feel himself easy in his new accoutrements,before he was embarked for India in the character of a marine. Thiskind of life was entirely new to Jack; however, his usual activity andspirit of observation did not desert him here, and he had not beenembarked many weeks, before he was perfectly acquainted with all theduty of a sailor, and in that respect equal to most on board. Ithappened that the ship in which he sailed touched at the CormoIslands, in order to take in wood and water; these are some littleislands near the coasts of Africa, inhabited by blacks. Jack oftenwent on shore with the officers, attending them on their shootingparties, to carry their powder and shot, and the game they killed. Allthis country consists of very lofty hills, covered with trees andshrubs of various kinds, which never lose their leaves, from theperpetual warmth of the climate. Through these it is frequentlydifficult to force a way, and the hills themselves abound inprecipices. It happened that one of the officers, whom Jack wasattending upon a shooting party, took aim at some great bird, andbrought it down; but as it fell into a deep valley, over some rockswhich it was impossible to descend, they despaired of gaining theirprey. Jack immediately, with officious haste, set off, and ran downthe more level side of the hill, thinking to make a circuit, and reachthe valley into which the bird had fallen. He set off, therefore; butas he was totally ignorant of the country, he, in a short time, buriedhimself so deep in the wood, which grew continually thicker, that heknew not which way to proceed. He then thought it most prudent toreturn; but this he found as difficult to effect as the other. Hetherefore wandered about the woods with inconceivable difficulty allday, but could never find his company, nor even reach the shore, norobtain the prospect of the sea. At length the night approached, andJack, who perceived it to be impossible to do that in the dark, whichhe had not been able to effect in the light, lay down under a rock,and composed himself to rest as well as he was able. The next day hearose with the light, and once more attempted to regain the shore; butunfortunately he had totally lost all idea of the direction he oughtto pursue, and saw nothing around him but the dismal prospect ofwoods, and hills, and precipices, without a guide or path. Jack nowbegan to be very hungry; but as he had a fowling-piece with him, andpowder and shot, he soon procured himself a dinner; and kindling afire with some dry leaves and sticks, he roasted his game upon theembers, and dined as comfortably as he could be expected to do in soforlorn a situation. Finding himself much refreshed, he pursued hisjourney, but with as little success as ever. On the third day he,indeed, came in sight of the sea, but found that he was quite on adifferent side of the island from that were he had left the ship, andthat neither ship nor boat was to be seen. Jack now lost all hopes ofrejoining his comrades, for he knew the ship was to sail at farthestupon the third day, and would not wait for him. He, therefore, satdown very pensively upon a rock, and cast his eyes upon the vastextent of ocean which was stretched out before him. He found himselfnow abandoned upon a strange country, without a single friend,acquaintance, or even any one who spoke the same language. He atfirst thought of seeking out the natives, and making known to them hisdeplorable state; but he began to fear the reception he might meetwith among them. They might not be pleased, he thought, with hiscompany, and might take the liberty of treating him as the white mengenerally treat the blacks when they get them into their possession;that is, make him work hard with very little victuals, and knock himon the head if he attempted to run away. "And therefore," says Jack,as he was meditating all alone, "it may, perhaps, be better for me tostay quiet where I am. It is true, indeed, I shall not have muchcompany to talk to; but then I shall have nobody to quarrel with me,or baa, or laugh at my poor daddy and mammy. Neither do I at presentsee how I shall get a livelihood, when my powder and shot are allexpended; but, however, I shall hardly be starved, for I saw severalkinds of fruit in the woods, and some roots which look very much likecarrots. As to clothes, when mine wear out, I shall not much want newones, for the weather is charmingly warm; and therefore, all thingsconsidered, I don't see why I should not be as happy here as in anyother place."--When Jack had finished his speech, he set himself tofind a lodging for the night. He had not examined far before he founda dry cavern in a rock, which he thought would prove a verycomfortable residence. He therefore went to work with a hatchet he hadwith him, and cut some boughs of trees, which he spread upon thefloor, and covered with a fine long silky kind of grass, to makehimself a bed. His next care was, how to secure himself in case of anyattack; for he did not know whether t
he island contained any wildbeasts or not. He therefore cut down several branches of trees, andwove them into a kind of wicker-work, as he had seen the men dohurdles when he lived with the farmer: with this contrivance he foundhe could very securely barricade the entrance of his cave. And now, asthe evening was again approaching, he began to feel himself hungry,and seeking along the sea shore, he found some shell-fish, whichsupplied him with a plentiful meal. The next day Jack arose, a littlemelancholy indeed, but with a resolution to struggle manfully with thedifficulties of his situation. He walked into the woods, and sawseveral kinds of fruit and berries, some of which he began to eat andfound the taste agreeable. He also dug up several species of roots,but feared to taste them, lest they should be poisonous. At length heselected one that very much resembled a potatoe, and