{"product_id":"2940013269767","title":"THE CREW OF THE WATER WAGTAIL","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA ROUGH BEGINNING.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is well that mankind cannot pry into the secrets of futurity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt all events, it is certain that if the crew of the _Water Wagtail_ had\u003cbr\u003eknown what was in store for them when they set sail from Bristol, one\u003cbr\u003efine spring morning at the beginning of the sixteenth century, most of\u003cbr\u003ethem would have remained at home--though it is not improbable that, even\u003cbr\u003ewith full knowledge of coming events, some of the romantic among them,\u003cbr\u003eand a few of the reckless, might have decided to go on.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUndoubtedly Paul Burns would have scorned to draw back, for he was a\u003cbr\u003e\"hero of romance;\" an enthusiast of the deepest dye, with an inquiring\u003cbr\u003emind, a sanguine disposition, and a fervent belief in all things great\u003cbr\u003eand good and grand.  He was also a six-footer in his socks, a horse in\u003cbr\u003econstitution, a Hercules in frame, with a hook nose and a hawk eye and a\u003cbr\u003estrong jaw--and all the rest of it.  Paul had a good brain, too, and was\u003cbr\u003ewell educated--as education went in those days.  Yes, there can be\u003cbr\u003elittle doubt that even though Paul Burns had been able to see into the\u003cbr\u003efuture, he would have deliberately chosen to go on that voyage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo would Oliver Trench, for Oliver worshipped Paul!  He loved him as if\u003cbr\u003ehe had been an elder brother.  He admired him, afar off, as a rare\u003cbr\u003especimen of human perfection.  He looked up to him, physically as well\u003cbr\u003eas mentally, for Oliver was at that time little more than a boy of\u003cbr\u003emedium size, but bold as a bull-dog and active as a weasel.  Yes, we are\u003cbr\u003esafe to say that a revelation of the disasters, dangers, sufferings,\u003cbr\u003eetcetera, in store, would not have deterred Oliver Trench.  He would\u003cbr\u003ehave gone on that voyage simply because Paul Burns went.  That was\u003cbr\u003ereason enough for him.  The devotion of Ruth to Naomi was mild compared\u003cbr\u003ewith that of Oliver to Paul--if words are a test of feelings--for Ruth's\u003cbr\u003ebeautiful language could not compare with the forcible expressions with\u003cbr\u003ewhich Oliver assured his friend that he would stick to him, neck or\u003cbr\u003enothing, through thick and thin, to the latest hour of life!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs for the rest of the crew--Big Swinton, Little Stubbs, George Blazer,\u003cbr\u003eSquill, and the like--it was well, as we have said, that they could not\u003cbr\u003esee into the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere were forty of them, all told, including the cook and the\u003cbr\u003ecabin-boy.  We do not include Paul Burns or Oliver Trench, because the\u003cbr\u003eformer was naturalist to the expedition--a sort of semi-scientific\u003cbr\u003efreelance; and the latter, besides being the master's, or skipper's,\u003cbr\u003eson, was a free-and-easy lance, so to speak, whose duties were too\u003cbr\u003enumerous to mention, and too indefinite to understand.  Most of the men\u003cbr\u003ewere what is expressed by the phrase \"no better than they should be.\"\u003cbr\u003eSome of them, indeed, were even worse than that.  The wars of the period\u003cbr\u003ehad rendered it difficult to obtain good seamen at that particular time,\u003cbr\u003eso that merchant skippers had to content themselves with whatever they\u003cbr\u003ecould get.  The crew of the _Water Wagtail_ was unusually bad,\u003cbr\u003eincluding, as it did, several burglars and a few pickpockets, besides\u003cbr\u003eloafers and idlers; so that, before leaving Bristol, a friend of the\u003cbr\u003eskipper, whose imagination was lively, styled it a crew of forty\u003cbr\u003ethieves.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47157448245488,"sku":"2940013269767","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013269767_p0.jpg?v=1763578976","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013269767","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}