I was a drunk in Cape Town when I was found by Daniel Dravot. He was a clean-cut man in traveling gear, while I was wearing smelly rags. He approached me one night after I'd nursed a bottle of rum, leaning against the tavern, bottle cuddled close to me.
"You look like a man who's down on his luck," he said.
I replied with a drunken belch.
"What's your name, ol' chap?" he said, pulling up an empty barrel on the side of the road and using it as a seat.
"Haim a Cap'n Larry Gifford... er wha's left o'im."
"Captain, you say? Army or Navy?"
"Wha's ih to ya?" I said.
"Well," Dravot said, "I am Daniel Dravot. I'm going on an adventure, and I'm looking for men to accompany me."
"A'venture, ya say?" I drunkenly droled. "Hai've seen plenny o' that. Been in the army, fer what-is worth, an' I'm notta lookin' back."
"I see," he said. "I'm glad to hear. I'm looking for an experienced man."
"'sperience? Plenny of 'sperience. Fif'een years, be e'zact. Bu' I'm no lookin' to go back. To much 'sperience fer one man."
"I'm sure. But I hope to sway you otherwise. I've heard of a place in Africa, in the south-eastern part of the Kongo. It's wild and untamed, enemies abound from the desert and from the people. The land is descending into chaos, which, to me, is fine. I see this as opportunity, a chance to make a new life. If you were to join my band of men, I'm sure you won't regret it."
"Hai've no dezire fer goin'," and I patted my bottle of rum. "This 'ere is my new life, and I'm nah abou' to change it."
"Suit yourself," he said, and stood up off the barrel. "But I need a man like you to lead, and I'm certain you'll benefit greatly. Here's where you'll find me," he said, taking a scrap from his pocket and shoving it into mine. "Should you change your mind, you will know where to find me."
"I ain' fer changin," I said, while he walked away. I drifted into drunken slumber, and woke the next day, leaning on the wall. My head was pulsing, my eyes crusted, and I felt like a million shillings. I reached into my pocket and felt the little scrap. Pulling it out and unfolding it, I remembered the chat with Dravot. After staring and thinking (a difficult task), I felt the urge to go.
When Daniel Dravot said there would be adventure, he wasn't jesting one bit. Never before had I enjoyed such a liberating trip. Natives, Vikings, and a couple of Russians were a part of the colorful cast we fought. But in the end was the rise of Daniel Dravot as King Daniel of Adjuuramark.
And as for me, I wasn't a simple captain by the end. I'm now known as Lord Gifford, and a General in the King's Army. And that's how a drunk in Cape Town in one year became a Lord.