along with them; that the weather being calm, he rowed round me several times, observed my windows, and the wire lattice that defended them; that he discovered two staples upon one side, which was all of boards, without any passage for light.  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, toward 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 foot.  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 toward 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, an 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 dropped 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.

I assured him I was well refreshed with his good entertainment and company, and as much in my senses as ever I was in my life.  He then grew serious, and desired to ask me freely, whether I were not troubled in mind by the consciousness of some enormous crime, for which I was punished, at the command of some prince, by exposing me in that chest; as great criminals, in other countries, have been forced to sea in a leaky vessel, without provisions; for although he should be sorry to have taken so ill a man into his ship, yet he would engage his word to set me safe on shore at the first port where we arrived.  He added that his suspicions were much increased by some very absurd speeches I had delivered at first to the sailors, and afterward to himself, in relation to my closet or chest, as well as by my odd looks and behavior while I was at supper.

I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I faithfully did, from the last time I left England to the moment he first discovered me.  And as truth always forceth its way into rational minds, so this honest, worthy gentleman, who had some tincture of learning and very good sense, was immediately convinced of my candor and veracity.