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captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to be had. I thought this a
little extraordinary; and, as one would be very apt to be, felt much hurt at
the circumstance. I had never been drunk in the craft, and was not a drunkard
in one sense of the term, at all; seldom drinking so as to affect me, except
when on a frolic, ashore.
As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and looking
down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a pot filled
with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running down, I met the
fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and brought him up all
standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a weapon that had caused a
good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now reached down to get it. Seeing
there was no time to parley, I raised him from the floor, and threw him down
with great force, his head coming under. There he lay like a log, and all my
efforts with vinegar and water had no visible effect.
I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect, and
fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head to throw
the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing what I had done.
The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than once, and I believe
had been detected in making such an attempt; and I fancied if I could get the
body through one of the cabin-windows, it would seem as if he had been drowned
in carrying his project into execution. I tried all I could first to restore
the steward to life; but failing of this, I actually began to drag him aft, in
order to force his body out of a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the
man very heavy; so I was a good while in dragging the load up to the necessary
height. Just as I got it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief
that I had never before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the
gallows.
I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in, and I
saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead of harm,
resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards greatly afraid of
me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and the captain used to
threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss. I owned the whole affair
to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed heartily at what had happened,
though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that it was no worse.
The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz. The
passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this occasion
we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was so fine, we
stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after tacking, as it seemed
to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to Cadiz lasted one hundred
and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the same length as that out though
much smoother.
The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found the
white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the Rock. After
passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we sailed for New
Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a month, there was a
pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached an American port, and I
felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea again. They wished me to stick
by the brig, which was going the very same voyage over; but I could not make
up my mind to travel so long a road, with a pocket full of money. I had passed
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so many years at sea, that a short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as
a novelty.
The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own latitude,
in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern schooner, called the
James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound to Philadelphia. She was
the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I ever put to sea in. Her boat
would not swim, and she had not a spare spar on board her. In this style, we
went jogging along north, until we were met by a north-west gale, between
Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced us to heave-to. During this gale, I
had a proof of the truth that "where the treasure is, there will the heart be
also."
I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's quarter,
when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The idea of
sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out, was not
very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the folly of my
conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had brought me to
imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to all the rest on
board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and secured my dollars.
Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about twenty-five pounds
weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before me of swimming two or
three hundred miles with it, before I could get ashore. As for boat, or spars,
the former would not float, and of the last there was not one. I now look back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
