the
position of midshipman on board a man-of-war. I served on board the
frigate Winchester, and other of His Majesty's ships, I did, for fifteen
years, and was only a midshipman at the end. Heaven forgive me for my
sins. It seemed there was no promotion for me. I was then transferred to
His Majesty's packet service, and assigned to the brig Storm, carrying
six guns, and the mails between Plymouth and the North American
provinces. She was a beauty of a craft, that Storm was. She used to
carry a crowd of canvas, and jump the seas like a sea-bird. I was four
years first officer of that craft, was proud of what she could do, and
the devil took advantage of my ambition, and created within me a longing
to be in command of her, and make myself heroic by roaming unrestrained
on the free sea. That feeling kept increasing until it become a passion
with me. Then it was my misfortune to fall in love. Yes, love was a
misfortune to me. I had courted and was engaged to the daughter of a
rich old man who had made all his money in the West Indies, and still
had plantations there.

"We were to be married on my return, after a voyage to North America.
But I returned to find her married to a young officer who had sailed
companion with me on board man-a-war, and who had professed great
friendship for me only to deceive me. He had professed to be my friend
and confident; and it was this that carried the knife of disappointment
to my very heart. I was denied an interview with the woman I had loved,
even worshipped. The man who had professed to be my friend now turned
his back on me, and denied me even an explanation." All the fire there
was left in the old man now seemed to kindle into a blaze, and the
fiercer elements of his nature took possession of him.

"To make the matter worse," he continued, "our good, kind, and brave
captain was relieved, transferred back to the navy, and this man, who
had outraged my confidence and made my life wretched, appointed to fill
his place. I resolved to be revenged. But how could it be got? How could
I punish the man who had so wronged me without rebelling against my
country, against God's laws, and against society? The devil told me it
could be done.

"As it was not a question of conscience with me, in the frame of mind I
was then in, there was no trouble in following the devil's advice. I
conceived a plan for sending this captain out of the world by the
shortest road, seizing the ship, and roving unre