te. We returned to the schooner in better
spirits and in better health, after having partaken of this invigorating
meal; and although I have since dined with epicures, and been regaled
with delicious food prepared in the most artistic style, I never tasted
a dish which seemed so grateful to my palate, which so completely
suffused my whole physical system with gratification bordering on
ecstasy, as that humble bowl of bread and milk in Savannah.

The schooner having been seized by the government for unlawful
transactions, the crew were compelled to wait until the trial took
place before they could receive the wages due for their services. If the
vessel should not be condemned, they were to look to Captain Turner for
their pay. But on the other hand, if the vessel should be confiscated,
the United States authorities would be obliged to pay the wages due at
the time the seizure took place. In the mean time we were furnished with
board, such as it was, and lodging in the schooner, and awaited with
impatience the result of the trial.

Captain Turner, being a shrewd business man, was not idle during this
intermission. Having reasons to believe his vessel would be condemned,
he resolved that the government authorities should obtain possession of
nothing more than the bare hull and spars. Under cover of the night he
stripped the schooner of the cables and anchors, the running rigging,
the spare spars, water casks, boats, sails, cabin furniture, blocks,
compasses, and handspikes. The government got "a hard bargain," when the
naked hull of this old worn-out craft came into their hands.

One beautiful morning while lying at the wharf in Savannah, two barges,
each having its stern-seats occupied by three well-dressed gentlemen,
looking as serious and determined as if bent on some important business,
left the landing place astern of the schooner, and proceeded rapidly
down the river. A throng of inquisitive observers, who knew the nature
of their errand, collected ere they started from the wharf, and gazed
intently on the boats until the intervening marshes concealed them from
view.

These gentlemen were to act as principals, seconds, and surgeons, in
a duel for which all proper arrangements had been made. At a ball the
evening before, a dispute had arisen between two high-spirited youths,
connected with highly-respectable families, in relation to the right of
dancing with a beautiful girl, the belle of the ball-room. Irritating