ns was not lessened by the
repeated visits of a popular physician during my sickness.

During this time I had not heard a word from Mr. Thomas, or Bohun,
his clerk. I supposed they had forgotten me; but I did those gentlemen
injustice. I had hardly been a year in the island when I received a
letter from Mr. Thomas, enclosing a bill in the handwriting of Bohun,
of every article with which I had been furnished in St. George, not
omitting my board at two dollars and a half a day, which Bohun so
roundly swore should be reduced at least two thirds. The sum total of
the bill amounted to more than one hundred dollars, an enormous sum in
my then straitened circumstances; and the letter contained an intimation
that, having been a year in the island, and in regular employment, it
was expected that I was able and willing to settle the accompanying
bill!

Although I entertained faint hopes of being able at some future day to
reimburse Mr. Thomas for his expenses on my account, I never expected
that he would make out this bill, including even the most trifling item,
or hold me responsible for the unpardonable blunder of Bohun in relation
to my board, and subject me to the mortification of a dun. It appeared,
however, that he considered all obligations, on his part, discharged,
when an unenviable situation was procured for me on a plantation, where
the chances were nine out of ten that I should find my grave within
three months! I made a brief reply to this letter, in which I expressed
my feelings without reserve; assured him he need not trouble himself
further about his money; that if I lived he should receive the full
amount, principal and interest, as soon as I could earn it.

This unexpected demand on my resources troubled me greatly. It had the
effect to postpone, almost indefinitely, the time when I should leave
Grenada, and return to the occupation I preferred, that of a mariner. I
could not quit the island honorably or openly without paying my debts;
and I could not for a moment entertain the idea of sneaking out of it in
a clandestine manner. I was the only citizen of the United States in
the island, and I persuaded myself that the honor and reputation of
my country were identified, to a certain extent, with my conduct while
exercising a humble employment in that secluded portion of the globe. It
would be well if others, exercising duties of a more important nature,
would recollect this fact; and when their consciences or