Five years before the mast Author:Jacob A. Hazen Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: The Jour. Shoemaker, bidding good-bye to the Bench, take" agail to Salt Water, and is sont on board a Ship against hia own ton- sent. In a somewhat obscure po... more »rtion of the city of Bio Janeiro, adjoining to Castle Hill, stood an elegant public house, which was kept by a person of doubtful character. The name of the individual was Surfe. He was a German by birth, but spoke the English, French, Spanish, and Portu- guest) languages, with a fluency equal to that with which he iterated his own vernacular. He hail formerly been employed as a spy by the Emperor, Don Pedro the First, during the turbulence of the latter portion of his reign. He was a gambler by profession, and in general bore the reputation of being a bad man, but by a polished exterior, and by the fluency with which he spoke the various languages, he always contrived to attract a large concourse of visitors to his house. His billiard rooms were superbly furnished, and almost constantly filled with strangers. He was supposed to have been concerned in two or three murders, which had been committed in the city, but as no proof could be elicited in support of the accusation, it of course amounted to nothing. Among the inmates of this establishment, was a pretty English girl, named Mary Mertle. This young woman had resided in Rio some months before my arrival there. She had been brought to Brazil by her father, who was a miner, and had been employed at the gold mines, but who, becoming dissatisfied with his employers, as well as the country, resolved to return to England. On his arrival at Rio, finding no vessel bound directly for England, he was induced to take up his lodgings at Surfe's until one should be ready to sail. The beauty of Mary attracted the attention of Surfe, who, though already in possession of two wives, ...« less