On the whole, I'm lucky in being cast away with you instead of one of my own men.

But it hurts me more than my wound does to think that I should have been tricked, that a man of experience such as I am should have been lured under the broadside of the sloop of war by an old fellow playing a fiddle and a couple of sailors dancing.

My mind keeps coming back to it.

My brain must have gone soft for the time being, and so I've paid the price." Robert said nothing, but finished his surgeon's task.

Then he made a further examination of the house, finding more boucan stored in a small, low attic, also clothing, both outer and inner garments, nautical instruments, including a compass, a pair of glasses of power, and bottles of medicine, the use of some of which he knew.
Then he loaded the fowling piece and went back toward the lake, hoping he might find ducks there.