His tales were all literally true . Captain Jim had the gift of the born storyteller , whereby `` unhappy , far-off things '' can be brought vividly before the hearer in all their pristine poignancy . Anne and Gilbert laughed and shivered over his tales , and once Anne found herself crying . Captain Jim surveyed her tears with pleasure shining from his face . `` I like to see folks cry that way , '' he remarked . `` It 's a compliment . But I ca n't do justice to the things I 've seen or helped to do . I 've 'em all jotted down in my life-book , but I have n't got the knack of writing them out properly . If I could hit on jest the right words and string 'em together proper on paper I could make a great book . It would beat A Mad Love holler , and I believe Joe 'd like it as well as the pirate yarns . Yes , I 've had some adventures in my time ; and , do you know , Mistress Blythe , I still lust after 'em . Yes , old and useless as I be , there 's an awful longing sweeps over me at times to sail out -- out -- out there -- forever and ever . '' `` Like Ulysses , you would ` Sail beyond the sunset and the baths Of all the western stars until you die , ' '' said Anne dreamily . `` Ulysses ? I 've read of him . Yes , that 's just how I feel -- jest how all us old sailors feel , I reckon . I 'll die on land after all , I s ` pose . Well , what is to be will be . There was old William Ford at the Glen who never went on the water in his life , 'cause he was afraid of being drowned . A fortune-teller had predicted he would be .
And one day he fainted and fell with his face in the barn trough and was XXXXX .
Anne Blythe Ford Gilbert Glen Joe Ulysses drowned fortune-teller life-book