pond was finished we would make the attempt. In two days more
we had finished the pond, and had turned thirty turtle, which we put
into it. The men, now that they found that they had plenty to eat,
began to show signs of laziness, and did not very readily commence the
work upon the xebeque. They ate and slept, ate and slept again, on the
mattresses spread in the tent. At times they would fish, but it was
with difficulty that the captain and I could persuade them to work,
and if they did work half an hour, they then threw down their axes and
crowbars, and went back to the tent. They had plenty of tobacco, and
they smoked half the day, ate turtle, and then slept again.
Nevertheless, as the captain and I worked hard, the work progressed;
in about ten days after we began the work, we had ripped off her decks
and her side-planks as low as we thought right, and we were now sawing
through the timbers, when the quiet of our party was disturbed by what
may be considered a very strange quarrel. One of the men asserted in
conversation that St. Antony was born in Padua; one or two of the
other seamen denied it, and this difference of opinion, which at first
was a mere nothing, from sullenness, I presume, and something being
required to excite them, in the course of a day or two ended in a
serious feud; the Paduans terming the anti-Paduans heretics and Jews.
The epithet of Jew was what irritated so much, and the parties being
exactly even, four on each side, on the third day, after an angry
altercation, they all rushed out of the tent to decide the affair with
their knives. The conflict was very fierce, and took place when the
captain and I were at the xebeque, and before we could separate them,
four of them had fallen; two were killed, and the other two badly
wounded. It may appear ridiculous that people should take each other's
lives for such a trifle; but, after all, nations declare war against
each other, and thousands are killed on both sides for causes almost
as slight. With great difficulty we separated the remaining
combatants, and such was their rage and excitement, that every now and
then they would attempt to break from us and attack each other again;
but at last we disarmed them.

This was a sad business; and it was melancholy to think that
companions in misfortune should take each other's lives, instead of
feeling grateful to the Almighty for their preservation.

We buried the two men who had fallen, and dressed the wo