Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 3.djvu/64

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THE NAVAL OFFICER.

every comfort, I left them. Green was so overcome that he could not speak, and poor Mungo could only say, "Good by, massa leptenant, me tinkee you berry good man."

I returned to my own vessel, and made sail for England: once more we greeted the white cliffs of Albion, so dear to every true English bosom. No one but he who has been an exile from its beloved shores, can fully appreciate the thrill of joy on such an occasion. We ran through the Needles, and I anchored at Spithead, after an absence of fourteen months. I waited on the admiral, shewed him my orders, and reported the prisoners, whom he desired me to discharge into the flag ship; "and now," said he, "after your extraordinary escape, I will give you leave to run up to town and see your family, to whom you are no doubt an object of great interest."

Here a short digression is necessary.