both their majesties would soon be made easy; for I had found a
prodigious vessel on the shore, able to carry me on the sea, which he
had given orders to fit up with my own assistance and direction; and he
hoped in a few weeks both empires would be freed from so insupportable
an incumbrance.

With this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput, and the monarch of
Blefuscu related to me all that had passed; offering me at the same time
(but under the strictest confidence) his gracious protection if I would
continue in his service; wherein, although I believed him sincere, yet I
resolved never more to put any confidence in princes or ministers where
I could possibly avoid it; and, therefore, with all due acknowledgments
for his favorable intentions, I humbly begged to be excused. I told him
that, since fortune, whether good or evil, had thrown a vessel in my
way, I was resolved to venture myself in the ocean, rather than be an
occasion of difference between two such mighty monarchs. Neither did I
find the emperor at all displeased; and I discovered, by a certain
accident, that he was very glad of my resolution, and so were most of
his ministers.

These considerations moved me to hasten my departure somewhat sooner
than I intended; to which the court, impatient to have me gone, very
readily contributed. Five hundred workmen were employed to make two
sails to my boat, according to my directions, by quilting thirteen folds
of their strongest linen together. I was at the pains of making ropes
and cables, by twisting ten, twenty, or thirty of the thickest and
strongest of theirs. A great stone, that I happened to find after a long
search by the sea-shore, served me for an anchor. I had the tallow of
three hundred cows for greasing my boat, and other uses. I was at
incredible pains in cutting down some of the largest timber-trees for