offer (предложение) was so good that I could not say No (не мог сказать «нет»).

The ship was soon fitted out (подготовлено) for the voyage. Her load was not

very heavy (груз не был тяжелым). But there were plenty of goods (много товаров)

such as were most fit for trade (таких, которые были наиболее подходящими для

торговли).

There were boxes of red and blue beads (коробки красного и синего бисера), of

bits of glass (кусочков стекла), and of other trinkets (безделушек). There were also

knives (ножи) and hatchets (топорики) and little looking-glasses (маленькие зеркала).

We reckoned (подсчитали) that each one of these (что каждый /предмет/ из этого)

would buy a slave (позволит купить раба).

The ship was to carry (должен был везти) fourteen men besides (помимо) the

captain and myself (капитана и меня). She (она, зд. судно) was as fine a little vessel

(такое прекрасное маленькое судно) as ever sailed from the coast of Brazil (которое

когда-либо отходило в море от берега Бразилии).

sugar [ug] successful [sk’sesful] kind [kaind]

I UNDERTAKE A NEW VENTURE

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

12

I HAD grown very tired of being a sailor. I was so tired of it that I made up my

mind to try something else. It happened that I was then in Brazil. I bought some land

there and began to open a plantation. The ground was rich, and it would be easy to raise

tobacco and sugar cane. But I needed many things. I must have plows and hoes and a

sugar mill. Above all I must have men to do the work on the plantation.

But neither men nor tools could I get in Brazil.

I sent to London for the tools. I tried to buy some slaves of the planters near me,

but they had not enough for themselves.

"We will tell you what to do," they said. "We will fit out a trading vessel for

Africa. We will put aboard of it everything that you need. As for your part, you shall be

the manager of the business; and you shall do the trading for us. You need not put in a

penny of your own."

"But how is that going to help me?" I asked.

"Listen, and we will tell you," they said. "With the goods which we send, you will

buy as man black slaves as the ship will hold. You will bring them here, and we will

divide them equally. You shall share with us, just as though you had paid the money."

The plan pleased me very much. I figured that each one of us would have thirty or

forty slaves.

It was very foolish of me to go to sea again; but the offer was so good that I could

not say No.

The ship was soon fitted out for the voyage. Her load was not very heavy. But

there were plenty of goods such as were most fit for trade.

There were boxes of red and blue beads, of bits of glass, and of other trinkets.

There were also knives and hatchets and little looking-glasses. We reckoned that each

one of these would buy a slave.

The ship was to carry fourteen men besides the captain and myself. She was as

fine a little vessel as ever sailed from the coast of Brazil.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www

. f ranklang . r u

13

I AM SHIPWRECKED (я потерпел в кораблекрушение; to be shipwrecked —

потерпеть кораблекрушение)

AT length (обстоятельно) all things were ready for the voyage (все вещи были

готовы к путешествию), and I went on board the ship (на борт).

It was just eight years (было как раз восемь лет) to the day (ото дня) since I had

left (покинул; to leave — покидать) my father and mother and my pleasant home in

good old York (красивый дом в добром старом Йорке).

I felt (чувствовал) that I was doing a foolish thing (глупую вещь); but I did not