He then commanded his men to row up to that side, and fastening a cable
to one of the staples, ordered them to tow my chest (as they called it)
towards the ship. When it was there, he gave directions to fasten
another cable to the ring fixed in the cover, and to raise up my chest
with pulleys, which all the sailors were not able to do above two or
three feet. He said they saw my stick and handkerchief thrust out of the
hole, and concluded that some unhappy man must be shut up in the cavity.
I asked whether he or the crew had seen any prodigious birds in the air
about the time he first discovered me? to which he answered, that,
discoursing this matter with the sailors while I was asleep, one of them
said he had observed three eagles flying towards the north, but remarked
nothing of their being larger than the usual size, which I suppose must
be imputed to the great height they were at; and he could not guess the
reason of my question. I then asked the captain how far he reckoned we
might be from land?
He said, by the best computation he could make, we were at least a
hundred leagues. I assured him that he must be mistaken by almost half,
for I had not left the country from whence I came above two hours before
I dropt into the sea. Whereupon he began again to think that my brain
was disturbed, of which he gave me a hint, and advised me to go to bed
in a cabin he had provided.
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