of
two young men, not much older than myself, and a negro boy. The two
men were swarthy sons of North Carolina, born near Cape Hatteras;
good-hearted, ignorant, lazy, careless fellows, who liked good living
and clear comfort better than hard work. The cook was of the genuine
African type; and when not employed in serious work about the camboose,
was throwing off the exuberance of his good humor in peals of laughter.
Taken together, they were a set of jolly fellows, and I rejoiced that my
lot was cast among them. My spirits, which had been below zero for
some time, in spite of my philosophy, took a sudden rise immediately,
notwithstanding the sullen humor of the mate, who, like Cassius, had "a
lean and hungry look," and never even indulged in a smile. He manifested
a singular antipathy towards me in all his acts.

Some animals seem to have a bitter hatred against those of their own
kind which are the victims of accident or misfortune. A wolf, wounded
by hunters, is torn in pieces by the pack; and a porpoise, if struck and
mangled by a harpoon, is pursued by the whole shoal, and put to death
without mercy. We sometimes find human beings possessed of such savage
attributes. They pay court to wealth and power, but when they find a
fellow-being stricken to the earth by misfortune or sickness, imbibe a
prejudice against him, and instead of stretching forth a kind and open
hand to relieve, will be more likely to shake a clinched fist in his
face.

Chapter XVIII. SCHOONER MARY OF NEWBERN

We cast loose from the wharf the following day, about the 20th of
April, 1812, and proceeded down the harbor. But the wind coming from
the eastward, we anchored above the Narrows. I was soon convinced that
Captain Thompson was no driver. Although originally a Massachusetts
man, he had lived long enough in southern climates to acquire indolent
habits. When the wind was ahead, if on anchorage ground, he would let go
an anchor, rather than take the trouble of beating to windward for what
he considered the trifling object of saving a day or two in the passage!
"Have patience and the wind will change," was his motto. He was not the
only shipmaster I have met with who was in the habit of looking after
his own comfort as well as the interest of his employer.

The wind was favorable the next day, and we glided past Sandy Hook and
entered on the broad ocean. Away we went to the southward with the wind
abeam, blowing a strong breeze from the w