Project Gutenberg's The Cruise of the Dainty, by William H. G. Kingston

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Title: The Cruise of the Dainty
Rovings in the Pacific

Author: William H. G. Kingston

Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21456]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DAINTY ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Cruise of the Dainty, Rovings in the Pacific, By William H G
Kingston.

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Another book of great adventure, this time in the Pacific, where, at the
time, many of the Islanders were, with good reason, ill-disposed towards
Europeans, having been tricked so often in various unpleasant ways, even
to the point where they would be invited on board to do some bartering,
only to be battened below hatches, and then sailed off to Peru to be
used as slaves. Our adventurers encounter hostility in places, but on
the whole their worst enemies are the weather, and also ill-intentioned
crews of vessels such as those described above.

A short book, but a good read or listen, and you'll enjoy it.

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THE CRUISE OF THE DAINTY, ROVINGS IN THE PACIFIC, BY WILLIAM H G
KINGSTON.

CHAPTER ONE.

"Never was bothered with a more thorough calm!" exclaimed my brother
Harry, not for the first time that morning, as he and I, in spite of the
sweltering heat, paced the deck of our tight little schooner the
_Dainty_, then floating motionless on the smooth bosom of the broad
Pacific. The empty sails hung idly from the yards. The dog-vanes
imitated their example. Not the tiniest wavelet disturbed the shining
surface of the ocean, not a cloud dimmed the intense blue of the sky,
from which the sun glared forth with a power that made the pitch in the
seams of the deck bubble up and stick to the soles of our feet, and
though it might have failed to cook a beefsteak in a satisfactory
manner, was rapidly drying some strings of fish hung up in the rigging.

The white men of the crew were gathered forward, in such shade as they
could find, employed under the supe