ives_, I. 293.]

_24th, Sunday, and 25th, Monday._ It stormed hard from the northwest,
and he could not go, but he came to tell us he would give us notice
when he would sail.

_26th, Tuesday._ He came and told us he would leave next day at
sunrise, and in passing by the house, he would come in and call us.

_27th, Wednesday._ We waited for him from an early hour, but it was
nearly ten o'clock before we saw him. We went to his boat which was
poor enough, very small, light, and lank, though it had been repaired
some; it had an old sail and piece of a foresail, and yet this captain
was as stern and arrogant with his boat, as if it were a ship-of-war.
We waited there for the passengers, but they had melted away to three,
my comrade, myself and one other person. We started about eleven
o'clock with a good wind and tide, though it was almost low water.
When we reached the Narrows, the wind veered round to the southeast,
which was against us. We discovered the boat to be so leaky that she
had a foot or two of water in her, which he sought to excuse, but
every word he said on the subject was untrue. The pump was stopped up,
and we had to help him clear it out, which was accomplished after much
trouble and bungling. We cleared it out, but we had that to do three
times, because in repairing the boat they had left all the chips and
pieces of wood lying in the hold between the planks, and when we
pumped, this stuff would continually obstruct the pump, though we
succeeded in getting out most of the water. Meanwhile the wind changed
to the south and southwest, with which there was every prospect of
getting outside. We tacked about and reached Coney Island, a low,
sandy island, lying on the east side of the entrance from the sea. We
came to anchor under its outermost point, when we should have gone
inside of Sandy Hook, in a creek, as we were able yet to do; but he
said, we must go outside of Sandy Hook, round by sea, and then make
for a creek there. I began now to have other thoughts. To put to sea
in such a light, low, decayed, and small boat, with rotten sails, and
an inexperienced skipper, and that at night, did not suit me very
well. The sea began already to roll round the point of Coney Island,
and I apprehended bad weather from pain in my breast and other
indications. He said the place where we were lying was entirely shoal,
and he therefore dared not go near the shore, as there was only eight
or ten feet water. But he was m