broadside of abuse on the little man-the more particularly ob noxious to his ear, as the mate never let slip an opportunity of hinting, in vulgar terms, at that species of interest to which little Abraham was indebted for his present command. The fact was, he was married to a handsome young wife, to whom some David of the north had taken an unholy liking, and placed her good man, like Uriah, in the post of danger, trusting to the chances of new rum, or a knock o' the head, leaving a legal vacancy, of which the amorous ship-owner might avail himself;- -no blind speculation, as time will show.

Our chief mate, Tom Bateman, rude and rough as a bear, was absolutely a host in himself, and worth six ordinary seamen in any emergency. Brutal to the eye and ear, he was in heart as good a fellow as ever sailed. In fine weather he was as playful as a porpoise, and about as graceful.

Nine years experience in a northern collier had, from his fourteenth year, inured him to the hardest toils of that laborious service; and although he had, (after a pressing invitation) served two years on board His Majesty's frigate Bienfaisant, called by Tom the Bonny pheasant, and a still longer period in the Belly-Squeaks, (Belliqueux,) he had not imbibed one habit of the "man-of-war's-man," either in dress, in speech, or in ship discipline: he was still the rough and ready northern Jock. *

He stood nearly six feet high, of Herculean proportions; his black and glossy hair, of which he had a most profuse crop, fell in clustering curls round his forehead, ears, and poll; and art could form nothing more savagely beautiful than this natural wig.

As he held it to be a sinful waste of soap and soft water to shav too often at sea, an hebdomadal brushing up of his chin, which he called casting off his muzzle-lashings, was quite sufficient for Tom, and answered all the purposes of proper-riety on board ship. He had an eye like a spark of ignited coal; his glance was as quick as the flash of fire-damp to every coming danger; while his head was the safety-lamp to avert it.

Although no scholar- -a blessing for which he often thanked his stars, as keeping him out of mischief-he had studied John Hamilton Moore, the sailor's vade mecum, with good effect; and could take an observation, and work his day's reckoning, by the sheer force of habit and long practice, without exactly comprehending the principle on which this (to him mechanical) process was founded.

His figures were hieroglyphics, decipherable only by himself; but he would astonish the scientific navigator by his gene

*The name given by men-of-war's men to collier men.

ral accuracy. Tom's logic was, "I knows what I doos by my own waay; aun if that's roight, all the rist is nuthin to nobody."

Three others of the crew were able seamen; and we had besides a second mate, who, for distinction, had probably sixpence a month more wages than the seamen, to maintain his additional dignity, and he, too, was a good practical mariner. Our two cabin-boys were handy and active; but the foreigners, Danes and Dutchmen, four in number, could hardly speak ten words of English, and did every thing by signs, or by those universal nautical terms by which sailors of all nations understand. With this weak crew, a crank ship, a crazy commander, and a mutinous mate, we were even glad to venture on a winter voyage across the Atlantic.

We arrived at St. Kitt's under convoy of the 64, after three days' dodging about among the islands, picking up ships to join the convoy, and anchored in the Bay of Basseterre in the last days of October. Even this little sea-trip, did me and my companions a world of good. My hospitable friend, Mr. M'Namara, whom I encountered on the beach, gave my whole party a dinner and a shake-down at his house, in recollection of past acquaintance of me. This act of attention was followed by one unpleasant drawback: all my companions felt their heads so much the worse for the liberal entertainment in which they had revelled till midnight, that not one, except myself was fit for business the next morning. As, however, there was a regular market established, where the stock was openly bargained for, I could not go much astray in following the biddings of more experienced purveyers. I accordingly purchased eight or ten nice small pigs, and bespoke a few dozens of ducks and fowls for the morrow, subject to the approbation of my mess

mates.

Almost every one who has purchased stock in the West Indies thinks himself entitled to tell the story, as having hap pened to himself, of the negro who asked six dollars for a very small pig; and being remonstrated with for asking so large a sum for such a little pig, replied, "Yis, massa, he little, but he dam ould!" Now, by virtue of my office of pig purveyor, I can with truth declare that no such negro logic was passed off upon me. This venerable joke, therefore, must rest on ancient tradition.

Our stock completed, we were all anxious for the signal to weigh, which at length was made; and just as our anchor was up, a canoe manned by negro boatmen pulled alongside, in which were two smart negro lads as passengers, who asked if any “gemman on board want sarbant, or captain want handwork for notin" Being all in want of servants, we incau

tiously, on the recommendation of the senior military man on board, invited them on deck for a conference; but no sooner had they clapped foot over the side than the others in the boat pulled off, leaving us no other alternative but to take them or throw them overboard, which latter alternative our mate Tom (who hated negroes as he did a press-gang) most inhumanly proposed, adding, "Dom 'em, they'll swim like dooks to the shore, Oi'll be bound!" During this discussion their lessening boat was hurrying fast to land, and we, making sail with all our power, were fast clearing the bay. It was too late to think of aught but keeping the poor devils, who had thus thrown. themselves on our mercy.

That they were runaway slaves from some of the islands we could hardly doubt, as neither of them could produce his manumission certificate, (or, as the negroes call it, "free paypa;”) but it was evident that they had been employed by some member of the British army, as they both bore on their backs some relic of our uniform. One of them, "Little Ben," had a castoff waistcoat and jacket with the staff buttons; the other, Jean Baptiste, wore a regimental jacket without buttons, of officer's cloth, and was equipped with an English glazed hat and cockade, such as are worn by servants.

There being a heavy penalty attached to any vessel trans porting an unmanumitted negro from any of the islands, the little captain was roused from his usual torpor into a state of frenzy, on learning that we had taken two on board. Indeed we ourselves became sensible of the imprudence of the proceeding; but we pacified the little man by undertaking to answer any future consequences for the act.

During the angry discussions which this subject gave rise to, the poor creatures who caused it stood with evident anxiety awaiting their fate, casting occasional glances of horror and supplication on the rugged mate, who had but one expression at hand: "Over wi'em!-black beggars!-over wi' 'em!that's what oya says. Here's a change o' moon to-noight, an' these dom varmin will bring us black luck!" Events justified Tom's apprehensions; but "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." After a run of a day and a night, we hove-to for an hour off the island of Tortola, the chief of the Virgin Islands, where we picked up half-a-dozen of homeward-bound ships, and once more spreading our white canvass to the breeze, before the sun went down we caught the last glimpse of the Antilles.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

"On, on the vessel flies-the land is gone!”

"FORTUNE Smiled deceitful" on the commencement of our voyage, which for several days wore the most favourable appearance. A steady wholesail breeze, fine clear weather by day, and brilliant nights, kept in spirits all those who had strength to come on deck, and revived the hopes of those poor sufferers below, whose only chance of life rested on a speedy return to their native clime.

Our living was excellent: it had but one fault-that of being too good. The inability of nearly half our number to consume their share of the daily mess left a superabundance for the more hardy, not one of whom was affected by sea-sickness, although, as we launched into the Atlantic the grand and awful swell of that mighty ocean increased from day to day.

About the ninth evening after our departure from the islands, when the vessel was under moderate sail, and the first watch set, Tom Bateman as usual came down to the officers' cabin to take his supper and a liberal allowance of grog-an indulgence which the mess unanimously accorded to ensure his services and fidelity. His spirits seemed depressed and his temper ruffled; he nevertheless ate like a half-famished tiger, growling all the time, and muttering curses on the "dom blaucks." "What's the matter?" said one of the party, addressing him.

"The mautter!-whoy, oye says again, Dom these blaucks! that's the mautter. Eif oye didn't see two mouns to-night as clear as the two oyes in moy head, then moy neaym's not Tom Bateman. We'll baw a precious blaw, boy-an-boy-you'll see thaut! An thin there's that soun of a →→ of a skipper, as knaws naw mur what to do wi' a sheet or a hallyard in a squall than aw does wi' his woife's petticoat.-Dom all such chaups!"

While thus giving vent to his spleen against negroes and petticoat interest, a crash of falling spars and a shout of the helmsman caught Tom's ear; at the same moment an alarming lee-lurch of the ship threw us all sprawling, "Lord au mercy, ho!" cried Tom, in a tone more of astonishment than of fear, "I'm blaw'd if she haun't broached to!" In another instant he

was on deck-the cabin seemed turned upside-down-the vessel was actually on her beam-ends!

Two of us scrambled up the narrow companion; and I was struck with horror at the first glance which it afforded me of the frightful situation of our ship, which happily, however, righted after the first violence of the squall had passed over us; and already had the mate with three able hands gone aloft to cut and clear away the wreck of the fore-top-mast, which had snapped like a reed on the first burst of the tornado.

The helmsman, who was one of the worst hands in the ship, had been knocked down at the wheel, and the vessel all but thrown up in the wind. Our situation was critical-a second blast, and our destruction was inevitable.

However, she was now once more before the wind, and a bold Yorkshireman (called by the crew Long Jack) was called to the wheel, who taking his weather-post, boxed her about like a boat obedient to his masterly helm!" Steadee-e-e my bow!" shouted the brave Bateman from aloft, whose night eye was awake to every danger.

"Steadee-e-e it is," responded the undaunted Yorkshireman, as the vessel whizzed her way through a sea of foam and fire, for the whole surface of the wide water seemed to flash with liquid flame,) while her wake, resembling some mighty monster, fresh from his native hell, seemed to chase her through the boiling flood in burning inflections.

The wreck all clear, main top-gallant-mast struck, and the ship put under snug sail for the night, the bold mate descended to the deck, and after a watchful look, cast over the taffrail, in which he swept the whole horizon with his keen and anxious eye, he turned to the helmsman, and wiping the salt water from his dripping face, said," Whoy, Jock, my bow, that was what ye calls a close gow."

Ay, ay," replied Jack, as he eased off the vessel before a lofty sea.

"Naw," continued Tom, "if she had been one of yaure heavy Jamakee men, wi' his three tiers of sugar, an his hoondreed pooncheons of rum, the fishes wou'd hau had a rare stiff can of grog affore naw."

"Yes, Tom," replied Jack, "but ye see this here's a light wabbling kind of a craft, and she came up like a duck as the squall broke off. But what business have we with top-gallant masts on such a tool, when she 's not within a foot and a half of her ballast trim ?"

"All

During this colloquy I went below and brought up a couple of bottles of rum, and with my loudest tones sung out, hands splice main brace, a-hoy!" an order which was very cheerfully obeyed, Dane, Dutchman, and African, understood