that we had already nearly gone down, and if another gale should come
on, we certainly should founder, and again requested that he would take
us on board.

"Have you any money to pay for your passage?" inquired he.

"Why," said I, "common charity and the feelings of a seaman towards
sailors in distress should be sufficient to induce you to take us on
board, and not leave us to perish; but if you require money," I replied,
"we have more than sufficient to satisfy you."

"How much?" screamed out a lad of about fourteen, who was the very image
of the captain in miniature.

I did not reply to this question, and the captain then said, "What do
you propose to do with the boat?"

"Let her go adrift, to be sure," replied I.

"What have you got on board of her?" said he.

I enumerated, as well as I could recollect, the provisions and stores
that we had.

"Well," replied he, "I will wait till it is a little smoother, and then
we will clear the boat and take you on board."

He then left the gangway, where he had been standing, and we continued
to be towed by the brig.

"I do not like that fellow," said I to the Portuguese captain; "he
appears, or pretends, to take us for pirates, but he is more like a
pirate himself."

"He looks like the devil himself," replied the captain, "and to ask
people in our condition to pay for their passage! He is a monster!
However, we all have a few doubloons, thank Heaven."

About an hour afterwards, it being much more moderate, the captain of
the brig told us to sheer alongside, and that four of us might come out
and the others remain in the boat till she was cleared.

"I think you had better go," said I to the captain, "for with so much
motion I never shall be able to get up the side with my bad knee."

We then sheered the boat alongside, and the captain and three of our men
got on board, but not without difficulty. I saw them go aft and down
below with the captain of the brig, but I never saw them on deck again,
much to my surprise, although we were more than half an hour before they
again hailed us, and told us to come alongside again. During this
half-hour my mind misgave me sadly that all was not right, from not
seeing the Portuguese captain, or either of the three men, and I took it
into my head that the vessel was a pirate; and I knew if such was the
case, we should instantly be rifled, if not murdered. I took the
precaution of taking off the bandage from my knee, and, h