the worthy skipper started to his feet,
and was by my side in an instant.

"'Glory to God!' he shouted, snapping his fingers. 'I know by your
eyes that reason has hold of your helm again. You'll get well now!
Hurrah! D--n, though I mus'n't make so much noise.'

"'But, Captain Hopkins--'

"'Can't tell you any thing now, you're too weak to bear it; that
is--you know, Ben, good news is--ahem! dreadful apt to kill sick
people; and you've been horrid sick, that's a fact. I thought four
days ago that you had shipped on a voyage to kingdom come, and was
outward bound; but you'll do well enough now, if you only keep quiet,
and if you don't you'll slip your wind yet. Shut up your head, take a
drink of this stuff, and go to sleep.'

"Capt. Hopkins left me, and, anxious as I was, I soon fell sound
asleep. When I awoke I felt much better and stronger, and teazed the
skipper so much, that he at last ventured to tell me that after I had
been struck down by a sabre-cut over the head, Don Pedro, also badly
wounded, and Donna Clara, had been captured by the soldiers. The two
boat-keepers also were missing, and one of the others left, either
dead or badly wounded, on the mole. Our other three men, finding
themselves overpowered, succeeded barely in gaining the boat with my
insensible form, and pushed off for the ship. Capt Hopkins, upon
hearing their story, had no other alternative but to cut and run, and
favored by the strong southerly gale, he managed to make good his
escape, though fired on by the castle before he had got out of range.
In the hurry and confusion my wound was not properly attended to, and
a brain fever set in, under which I had been suffering for a week; but
the kind care of Capt. Hopkins and Mr. Smith, and the strength of my
constitution, at last prevailed over the disease. Dismal as was this
story, and the prospects it unfolded, my spirits, naturally buoyant,
supported me, and I determined that when the ship should arrive in
Boston I would leave her and return immediately to Cuba, to make an
effort for the release of my friends. Wild as was this resolve, I grew
better upon the hope of accomplishing it; and when we anchored off
Long Wharf, after a tedious passage, I was nearly well.

"Notwithstanding the advice of my friends I made arrangements for an
immediate return to Matanzas, but the day before my intended departure
the Paragon arrived from that port; and I learned from her officers
that Don Pedro was clos