heart and soul, and will be proud to serve under you again;
and Captain Joy won't stand in my way.'

"This being corroborated by Mr. Joy, Captain Duck told the man to put
his things into the boat, and in a few minutes we were rowing back to
the _Port-au-Prince_. Presently I heard our captain telling young Mr.
Mariner that he had heard from Captain Joy that there were two Spanish
ships lying at Conception, and he had resolved to go thither and cut
them out--especially as one had thirty-three thousand dollars on board.
As soon as we were on board, the harpooner from the _Vincent_ told us
that the news about the two ships was correct, and that we would have no
trouble in cutting them out; for he knew the place well, and there were
no guns mounted there. He also told us something about himself, which I
here set down as showing his adventurous nature.

"Five years before he had sailed from London in a South Seaman, the
_Sweet Dolly_, which had made a very successful voyage, for the ship
was filled with whale oil in less than a year. The _Sweet Dolly_, on her
return to England, fell in with the _Vincent_, and Turner, giving her
captain instructions to pay certain money to his sweetheart, who
lived in Bristol, shipped on board the _Vincent_. She, too, was
very successful, and was going home a full ship when she met the
_Port-au-Prince_. 'And now, lads,' said he to us, 'I will make another
haul, for we are sure to take these two ships at Conception, and more
besides; and I shall take my lass to church in a carriage.' Little did
he know how soon he was to meet his fate!

"And now as to the quarrel I have spoken of between our good captain and
Mr. Brown, the whaling-master. It seems that as soon as the matter of
the two Spanish ships at Conception was mentioned to Mr. Brown he became
very obstinate--and then, with many intemperate expressions and oaths,
flatly refused to give up the good prospects of a whaling voyage for the
sake of capturing a dozen prizes. Upon this Captain Duck reminded him
that he, being only whaling-master, had nought to do with the matter;
that it was his duty to aid in making the voyage a success, but that if
they failed to get any prizes in the course of a month or so, then he
(Captain Duck) would make all possible haste to get upon the whaling
ground. Instead of receiving this in a sensible manner, Mr. Brown only
became the more rude, and the upshot of it was that Captain Duck lost
his temper, and, se