Peter was always proud afterwards when he remembered that, with the Bargees furious fingers tightening on his ear, the Bargees crimson countenance close to his own, the Bargees hot breath on his neck, he had the courage to speak the truth.
"I wasnt catching fish," said Peter.
Oh, you ARE a devil. You can twist the heart in a girl as easy as some could twist her arms to hurt her. Mrs. Pearce warned me. Time and again she has wanted to leave you; and you always got round her at the last minute. And you dont care a bit for her. And you dont care a bit for me.
"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldnt come down again. It went way up above the clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles away. For a day and a night I traveled through the air, and on the morning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating over a strange and beautiful country."
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