agin, dey'd have to fotch him dead." The following morning doctor Barret
appeared newly skinned, in old clothes the crew had furnished, busy as a
demon in the mysteries of the caboose; hinting his capacity for the
office by proclaiming that he had been "head bottle-washer of a
Liverpool liner, with glass nubs on de cabin doors!" The doctor soon
became oracle of the schooner, and, albeit, tickled our palates with the
most savory of messes.

For a day or two we did nothing but cruise pleasantly around the
islands, within sight of the Mexican pickets, sometimes landing on the
larger Venado, and scooping up, from a natural bowl, a few gallons of
fresh water that was distilled from the dew, and trickled down between
crevices of the rocks. The climate, though excessively damp, was yet
delightfully agreeable, tempered by the most regular succession of
diurnal sea breezes. It never rains out of season, and were it not for
the heavy night dews, the very birds would famish. Until now we had made
no prizes, saving quantities of excellent fish jerked out of old
Neptune's bosom, without going through the forms of condemnation by a
court of admiralty. Once we made a swoop on a small shallop, manned by a
couple of Frenchmen, but finding nothing for the trouble, and the Patron
swearing he would, under cover of night, bring us on board something
green and eatable, we set him at liberty, after whispering in my ear the
request that Messieurs would discharge a carbine over his boat to
preserve his honor; which mild compliment we promised to comply with.
All this did very well, and we had begun to be quite happy in our
independence. We discovered the best fishing rocks, clearest bathing
beach, and purest pool of water, when the powers above us, kind souls,
judged we were too far removed from the parental protection of their
guns; talked about the possibility of our being cut out, and cut up, and
so forth; and the little Rosa was ordered to take a nearer station by
the Flag-ship. There we lay rolling and tumbling in the worst possible
sea and humor, within a cable's length of the Constance, keeping a
bright look-out on the town, and a brighter still on a surf chafing rock
near our counter. Then again, we would run round little Creston, which
forms a sort of gate-post to the new port, and get in comparatively
smooth water, and bathe twice a day; eat sparingly, per force, and do
anything to fill up the crevices of indolence; until at last we w