sing to leave them.'

Then, addressing me, he asked if I knew where they were, or in what
ship. I answered that I did not, further than that, from what I had seen
and heard, I thought we were on board of a vessel they called the Betsy;
and then gave them an account of all I had witnessed the evening before.
The younger of the two began to weep like a child; while the other,
whose rage knew no bounds, swore fearfully at the two ruffians who had
betrayed them into their present situation. When he became more calm, I
requested him to explain himself; and learned from him his own history
and that of his companion. They were schoolfellows, cousins, and
fellow-apprentices; had served their time as joiners; and then left
their native village, to pursue their calling in the capital, with some
views, though not matured, of emigrating to America. Having been
unsuccessful in obtaining work in the city, they had come down to Leith
to make inquiries about a passage to America; and were so unfortunate
as to fall into the hands of one of the notorious plantation-crimps,
who, pretending to be intimate with the captain of a trading vessel
about to sail, enticed them to his den, that they might obtain all the
information they required. They were plied with liquor; robbed of all
the money they had; and placed in the situation in which I now saw them.
From the inquiries they had made in Leith, and our mutual explanations,
it was too evident to us all three that we had been kidnapped and sold
to a palantine vessel, to be carried out to Virginia, and there sold as
slaves, to the highest bidder. The young men were inconsolable; as
for me, I cared little about it, now that I was assured there was no
immediate personal violence to be feared: hard fare and hard living were
my lot--I knew no other. While others, bred to better things, were in
misery, I was comparatively in happiness. Such is the influence of
habit. To have my provisions regularly served, with nothing to do but
lie upon the floor of the hold, or walk about in its narrow limits, was
to me sufficient recompense for an evil, which to others would have
appeared irremediable.

The next tide after we were put on board, the Betsy left Leith Roads,
and sailed for Aberdeen, on her progress north. Our number was there
augmented to eighteen--the recruits being all boys about my own age,
who, not being kidnapped, but trepanned with false promises, came on
board in great spirits, and full of