e civilities and indulgence we had received from
the prize-master and his associates.

My remonstrances only served to increase the fury of Moncrieff, who
swore that single-handed he would retake the schooner. With his back
against the mainmast and a good claymore in his hand, he would cut down
every man one after another!

I found he was too far gone to listen to reason; and it is possible he
might have staggered on deck, pistol in hand, and been shot down for
his pains, if the prize-master, attracted by his loud and threatening
language, had not listened to a part of the conversation; and as the
captain was on the point of sallying forth, like a doughty champion of
old, in search of hard knocks, his collar was grasped by a couple of
stout men; and he was roughly laid on his back and handcuffed in
a trice. His pistols were found and appropriated to the use of the
prize-master as spoils of the vanquished, and he would have been treated
with great harshness had I not interfered and pointed out the brandy
bottle as the guilty originator of the plot. The brandy was promptly
secured, to be punished hereafter. The captain was relieved of his
manacles and shoved into his berth, where he slept off his valorous
propensities, and awoke a few hours afterwards a different man, who
could hardly be drubbed into a plot which would endanger his own life.

In spite of calms, and light winds, and Patriot cruisers, we reached
Porto Cabello on the fifth day after leaving the little harbor where we
were so handsomely entrapped. The felucca entered the port at the same
time, and Mr. Campbell was permitted to join us once more; and he did
it with an alacrity which, I confess to my shame, furnished me with no
little amusement. The sufferings of the poor man while in the felucca
can hardly be imagined. He was exposed in that hot climate, and during
the prevalence of calms, to the fiercest rays of the sun, while loaded
with clothes enough to keep him uncomfortably warm during a polar
winter. And he felt compelled to bear his burden without murmuring or
seeking to be relieved, lest his companions should suspect his reasons
for bearing his whole wardrobe on his back, and take umbrage at such a
reflection on their honor!

Chapter XXIII. PORTO CABELLO

The ship Charity was lying in the harbor of Porto Cabello, but under
seizure of the Spanish government. Captain Moncrieff, Mr. Campbell,
and myself, with no longer a home in the pilot-boat