planters were very civil and polite to him. They had,
however, suffered very much in the late war with France. It was in the
year 1782 that a French general, the Marquis de Bouille, having eight
thousand men with him, besides a fleet of twenty-nine sail of the line,
commanded by the Admiral Count de Grasse, captured the island from the
English. It was, however, restored to Great Britain when the war ended
the following year.

We had a quantity of fruit brought off to us, which did most of us a
great deal of good, after living so long on salt provisions. I remember
how delicious I thought the shaddock--which is a fruit something like a
very large orange. Its outer coat is pale, like a lemon, but very
thick. It is divided into quarters by a thin skin, like an orange; and
the taste--which is very refreshing--is between a sweet and an acid.
The colour of the inside of some is a pale red--these are the best;
others are white inside. Peter told me that he had heard that the tree
was brought from the coast of Guinea by a Captain Shaddock, and that the
fruit has ever since borne his name.

We spent three or four days at anchor before this beautiful place; and
then, having landed two or three of our passengers, and put Walter
Stenning on board a vessel returning to England, once more made sail for
our destination. The trade-wind still favoured us, though it was much
lighter than it had been before we entered the Caribbean Sea.

"Jack," said Peter to me the afternoon we left Basseterre, "I've good
news for you. The captain wants a lad in the place of Sam Dermot, whom
he has left on board a homeward-bound ship, for he found that he was not
fit for a sea-life, and Mr Gale has been speaking a word in your
favour. I don't say it's likely to prove as pleasant a life as you lead
forward, but if you do your duty and please him, the captain has the
power to advance your interests--and I think he is the man to do it."

This was good news, I thought; and soon afterwards Mr Gale told me to
go into the cabin. The captain, who was looking over some papers,
scarcely raised his head as I entered. "Oh, Jack Williams--is that your
name, boy?" said he. "You are to help Roach, the steward. Go to him;
he'll show you what you are to do." The steward soon gave me plenty of
work cleaning up things; for the captain was a very particular man, and
would always have everything in the best possible order.

The next morning at daybreak, M