find good facilities here, without any unkind feeling on the
part of the people"--

"Oh! bless me, Captain, you will find us the most hospitable people in
the world," said the Colonel.

"But your pilot told me I would have trouble with my steward, and that
the law would make no distinction between his being cast upon your
shores in distress and subject to your sympathy, and his coming in
voluntarily."

"What!" said little George. "Is he a nigger, Captain? Old Grimshaw's
just as sure to nab him as you're a white man. He'll buy and sell a
saint for the fees, and gives such an extended construction to the terms
of the act that you need expect no special favor at his hands. The law's
no fiction with him. I'm sorry, Captain: you may judge his conduct as
an index of that of our people, and I know him so well that I fear the
consequences."

"No!" said the Captain. "My steward is a Portuguese, a sort of mestino,
and one of the best men that ever stepped foot aboard a vessel. He
is willing, intelligent, always ready to do his duty, and is a great
favorite with his shipmates, and saves his wages like a good man-but he
is olive complexion, like a Spaniard. He has sailed under the British
flag for a great many years, has been 'most all over the world, and is
as much attached to the service as if he was a Londoner, and has got a
register ticket. Nothing would pain my feelings more than to see him
in a prison, for I think he has as proud a notion of honesty as any man
I've seen, and I know he wouldn't commit a crime that would subject him
to imprisonment for the world. The boys have been pestering the poor
fellow, and telling him about some old fellow they heard the pilot speak
about, called Norman Gadsden; they tell him if he catches him they'll
sell him for a slave."

"The question is one about which you need give yourself no concern. Our
people are not so inhuman but that they will shelter a castaway sailor,
and extend those comforts which are due from all humane people. The act
under which seamen are imprisoned is the law provided to prohibit free
niggers from entering our port, and, in my opinion, was brought into
life for the sake of the fees. It's no more nor less than a tax and
restriction upon commerce, and I doubt whether it was ever the intention
of the framers that it should be construed in this manner. However, so
far as your steward is con-cerned, the question of how far his color
will make him amenable to the la