, transferred our
quarters to the ship. The officers took up their abode in the cabin,
while I was thrown on the hospitalities of the forecastle. The
prize-master of the pilot-boat honored me with a pressing invitation to
join the crew of the felucca, assuring me there was "good picking"
along the coast, and he would put me in the way of doing well. I felt
flattered by his good opinion; but under the circumstances thought
proper to decline the invitation.

The ship Charity was a vessel of about three hundred and fifty tons
burden, moored at this time in the centre of the harbor, awaiting the
decision of the Admiralty Court. The ship was commanded by a man of very
ordinary capacity. The mate was a mere sailor, wanting in intelligence
and worth, and a fit associate for the captain. The ship and her
valuable cargo were actually n charge of the supercargo, a Mr. Parker,
of New York, who was also part owner. He resided on shore and seldom
visited the ship. It was at his instance I found an asylum in the
Charity along with the officers of the pilot-boat.

The crew of the Charity consisted of some eight or ten men, Dutchmen,
Swedes, and Italians, as brutal and ignorant a set of men as it was ever
my misfortune to fall in with. With such officers and such a crew, it
may be imagined there was little discipline on board. Liquor could be
easily obtained; and drunken rows and fighting among themselves, and
occasionally with the captain or mate, were of frequent occurrence. None
of the crew gave me a welcome when I went on board, and I saw at once
there could be no good fellowship between us. I found a space in the
forecastle for my chest, and in that warm climate it mattered little
where I slept. I performed my duties regularly with the crew, and for
the first two days led an unsocial, almost a solitary life, in the midst
of a large ship's company. Captain Moncrieff, like an honest man, paid
me the month's pay to which I was entitled, in advance. This money
I kept about my person, and carefully concealed from every one the
prosperous sate of my finances. I was thus enabled to indulge in little
comforts which, to some extent, counterbalanced the inconveniences to
which I was subjected.

On the morning of the third day after I had taken up my quarters in the
ship, another person was received on board in accordance with a mandate
from the supercargo. His name was Frederick Strictland. He was an
Englishman, a veritable cockney, abou