on my young mind the great evil of spending a life in such a
pursuit as that to which I seemed destined. The good man died while I
was yet a mere child, and I soon forgot his lectures. The schoolroom was
abandoned for the ocean, and I grew up a promising pupil of my father's
wild occupation. Young, buoyant, full of activity, I was ardently
attached to the adventurous life I led. My moral perceptions were not
active, and there was a keen delight in dashing through the surf, when
the billows threatened each moment to ingulf my boat, in pursuit of the
wealth the greedy waves seemed eager to claim as their prey.

I can not deny that in this absorbing object the shrieks of drowning
wretches were too often unheeded, while we appropriated their property;
but I can truly say that I was never deaf to the voice of entreaty, and
frequently drew on myself the anger of my father by saving those whose
claims on his spoils sometimes seriously interfered with the profits of
the expedition. He never, however, refused to relinquish property thus
claimed; for he was exceedingly desirous of allowing no serious cause of
complaint to reach the ears of those who might make him feel the strong
arm of authority, even in the out-of-the-way place in which he had fixed
his residence. At an early age I considered myself as having no superior
in my wild occupation. The strong energies of my nature had no other
outlet. For days I would remain alone on the ocean, with the storm
careering around my frail boat, and at such times my restless soul would
look into the Future, and ask of Fate if such was ever to be my lot. My
thoughts often soared beyond the limited horizon of my home, and I made
several excursions among the cities of my native island; but I was glad
to return to my wild retreat. Uncouth in manners and appearance,
ignorant of the conventional forms of society, I keenly felt my
inferiority to the only class among whom I would have deigned to dwell.
After such humiliation I enjoyed a fiercer pleasure in my solitary
excursions on the deep.

I can not say that my life was passed without excess. In such a home as
mine, that would have been impossible. The frequent brawl, the
wassail-bowl and drunken revel were almost of nightly occurrence; and I
was fast sinking into the mere robber and inebriate, when an event
occurred which rescued me for a time from the abyss on the brink of
which I was standing.

He paused, as if nerving himself for what w