ed still more glowing accounts from sailors, who had once been
fishermen in our village, and who occasionally returned to visit their
native place. These used to tell us of lions, and tigers, and
elephants, and crocodiles, and monkeys as big as men, and snakes as long
as ships' cables, until their exciting stories of the adventures they
had experienced among such creatures filled me with an enthusiastic
desire to see with my own eyes these rare animals, and to take part in
the chasing and capturing of them as the sailors themselves had done.
In short, I became very tired of the dull monotonous life which I was
leading at home, and which I then supposed was peculiar to our own
country; for, according to our sailor-visitors, in every other part of
the world there was full store of stirring adventures, and wild animals,
and strange scenes.

One young fellow, I remember, who had only been as far as the Isle of
Man, brought back such accounts of his adventures among blacks and
boa-constrictors, that I quite envied him the exciting sports he had
there witnessed. Though, for certain reasons, I had been well schooled
in writing and arithmetic, yet I had but a slight knowledge of
geography, as it was not a prominent branch of study in our school. I
could scarce tell, therefore, where the Isle of Man lay; but I resolved,
the first opportunity that offered, that I should make a voyage to it,
and see some of the wonderful sights of which the young fellow spoke.

Although this to me would have been a grand undertaking, yet I was not
without hopes of being able to accomplish it. I knew that upon odd
occasions a schooner traded from our port to this famed island, and I
believed it possible, some time or other, to get a passage in her. It
might not be so easy, but I was resolved to try what could be done. I
had made up my mind to get on friendly terms with some of the sailors
belonging to the schooner, and ask them to take me along with them on
one of their trips.

While I was patiently waiting and watching for this opportunity an
incident occurred that caused me to form new resolutions and drove the
schooner and three-legged island quite out of my head.

About five miles from our little village, and further down the bay,
stood a large town. It was a real seaport, and big ships came there--
great three-masted vessels, that traded to all parts of the world, and
carried immense cargoes of merchandise.

One day I chanced to ha