me some friends. At last some of them told my
captain that he did not use me well, in suffering
me thus to be imposed upon, and said they would see
me redressed, and get me on board some other vessel.
My captain, on this, immediately went to Mr. Read,
and told him, that ever since I eloped from the vessel
his work had been neglected, and he could not go on
with her loading, himself and mate not being well;
and, as I had managed things on board for them, my
absence must retard his voyage, and consequently hurt
the owner; he therefore begged of him to forgive me,
as he said he never had any complaint of me before,
for the many years that I had been with him.
After repeated entreaties, Mr. Read said I might go
to hell, and that he would not meddle with me; on
which my captain came immediately to me at his lodging,
and, telling me how pleasantly matters had gone on,
he desired me to go on board. Some of my other
friends then asked him if he had got the constable’s
warrant from them; the captain said, No. On this
I was desired by them to stay in the house; and they
said they would get me on board of some other vessel
before the evening. When the captain heard this
he became almost distracted. He went immediately
for the warrant, and, after using every exertion in
his power, he at last got it from my hunters; but
I had all the expenses to pay. After I had thanked
all my friends for their attention, I went on board
again to my work, of which I had always plenty.
We were in haste to complete our lading, and were to
carry twenty head of cattle with us to the West Indies,
where they are a very profitable article. In
order to encourage me in working, and to make up for
the time I had lost, my captain promised me the privilege
of carrying two bullocks of my own with me; and this
made me work with redoubled ardour. As soon as
I had got the vessel loaded, in doing which I was
obliged to perform the duty of the mate as well as
my own work, and that the bullocks were near coming
on board, I asked the captain leave to bring my two,
according to his promise; but, to my great surprise,
he told me there was no room for them. I then
asked him to permit me to take one; but he said he
could not. I was a good deal mortified at this
usage, and told him I had no notion that he intended
thus to impose on me; nor could I think well of any
man that was so much worse than his word. On
this we had some disagreement, and I gave him to understand,
that I intended to leave the vessel. At this
he appeared to be very much dejected; and our mate,
who had been very sickly, and whose duty had long
devolved upon me, advised him to persuade me to stay:
in consequence of which he spoke very kindly to me,
making many fair promises, telling me that, as the
mate was so sickly, he could not do without me, and
that, as the safety of the vessel and cargo depended
greatly upon me, he therefore hoped that I would not
be offended at what had passed between us, and swore
he would make up all matters when we arrived in the