on the look-out for single merchantmen;
and, unless they were strongly armed, they were nearly certain to become
our prey. We never attacked an armed vessel if we could help it, and
never fought if we could escape an enemy capable of injuring us. Now
and then, when we thought that we were going to make prize of a rich
merchantman, we found that we had caught a Tartar, and had to up stick
and run for it. Twice we were very nearly caught; and should have been,
had not night come to our aid, and enabled us to haul our wind without
being seen, and thus get out of our pursuer's way.

Once, flight was impossible, and we found ourselves brought to action in
the chops of the Channel by a French sloop-of-war of eighteen guns.
Captain Savage, however, gave evidence of his skill and courage by the
way he handled the schooner against so superior a force. By making
several rapid tacks, we got the weather-gauge of our opponent; and then,
after the exchange of several broadsides, we stood across his bows, when
we delivered so well-directed a raking-fire that we brought his topmast
down by the run. We had not escaped without the loss of several men,
besides getting an ugly wound in our mainmast; so, to avoid any further
disaster, and being perfectly content with the glory of having crippled
an opponent of force so superior, we hauled our wind and stood up
Channel. The Frenchman was afterwards fallen in with, and captured by a
corvette of her own size.

I have, I think, sufficiently described the occupation of a privateer.
What I might have become, under the instruction of my old friend Peter,
and the strict discipline of a man-of-war, I know not. On board the
privateer, with the constant influence of bad example, I was becoming
worse and worse, and more the slave of all the evil ways of the world.
After serving on board the schooner for more than three years, I was
paid off with my pocket full of prize-money, and, shipping on board a
trader, I found my way to Liverpool.

That port then, as now, afforded every facility to a seaman to get rid
of his hard-earned gains. In a few weeks I had but a few shillings
left. I had not the satisfaction of feeling that I had done any good
with it. How it all went I don't know. I believe that I was robbed of
a large portion. I was so disgusted with my folly, that I was ready to
engage in any enterprise, of however questionable a character, where I
had the prospect of gaining more, which