vessel, and
saw the old one, in which I had served for so many years, sailing away
from us. I should have felt very forlorn and melancholy if Peter had
not been with me. I was also very much attached to Mr Gale, and was
very glad that he was now my captain.

The Irish, I have observed, generally possess a considerable amount of
imagination, and I conclude that I inherited no small share of that
quality from my poor mother. I remember that the first night I passed
on board the _Dolphin_, I fancied in my sleep that I saw again the whole
of the scene of horror which had so short a time before been enacted
there. Several times I jumped up, thinking that the rovers were coming
on board, and that I had to fight for my life. Then I fancied that I
heard the cries and the groans of the poor fellows who had slept where I
was sleeping, and had met their death close to where I lay; and I looked
out and saw them writhing and struggling in the hands of their barbarous
murderers.

Peter, instead of laughing at me when I told him of my dreams, answered
me that the surest way to banish all such thoughts, was to say my
prayers earnestly at night whenever I turned in, and to pray that I
might be preserved from all dangers, and especially from the fate which
had overtaken these poor men. I was very fortunate in falling in, at
this time of my life, with two such men as Mr Gale and Peter Poplar.
The latter was uneducated, certainly, but had learned his religion from
the Bible, and therefore he possessed the true principles, the
essentials of a saving faith; and he was the instrument of gradually
opening my mind and heart to them.

Captain Gale, for so I shall now call him, had a very sharp look-out
kept lest we should again fall in with the Salee Rover, or any of his
consorts, which, it was very probable, might still be hovering about in
that part of the ocean. The first day after parting company with the
_Rainbow_ passed by without a single sail heaving in sight. The breeze
had got round to the southward, so that we had a fair wind; and as it
was light, we were able to carry all the canvas we could set. At night,
however, as we were somewhat short-handed, the captain ordered us to
furl top-gallant-sails, and to take a reef in the topsails, that we
might be better prepared should it come on to blow. The second night,
however, passed away, and the same fine weather continued.

The next morning, soon after daybreak, Captain Gale