Chapter 17 Summary

Returning to the Quaker City for the next leg of the excursion, the pilgrims discover that while they were gone, there was a great battle between the Americans and the English. It wasn't a real battle, but more of a playground scuffle. A group of English sailors challenged the American crew, a fight broke out, and the police became involved. The captains forbade the American crewmen to fall into temptation when the English returned the next day. When the American crew refused to fight, the Englishmen accused them of cowardice. On the third night, however, the captain would tolerate the taunting no longer and allowed the Quaker City crew to claim victory for the Americans. Twain claims the reason he told of this event was because the Americans won, just like the paintings in Versailles only told stories of victories.

Upon stopping in...