Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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“He’s never satisfied unless he’s telling us that,” cried a voice. “Come, old man, fire away.”

Old Nat cleared his throat with one or two preliminary ahems, and then, in a high treble, trolled a nautical ballad—​the first verse of which described the loves of a youth and village maiden, who plighted their troth under a linden tree; the verse ended with a mournful refrain, which was as follows:—

Now this ere Jack he was hard-hearted,

Which no true lovyer ought for to be;

And this here Sall he soon desarted,

All for to sail on the salt sea.

The words of the ballad described the anguished feelings of the forlorn and broken-hearted girl, who wanders about her old haunts in the village in a half demented state—​for never a word does she hear from her cruel and heartless lover.

There is, it would appear, very good reason for this, for the ship in which the young man sailed foundered at sea, and Jack was cast upon a tropical island, where he remained for three years.

At the expiration of that time he was taken on board a passing vessel, and returned home to find his Sall dead beneath the turf in the village churchyard.