on deck by
the pumps. Alas! there was not a rope in the sloop proof against that
goat's awful teeth!

It was clear from the very first that I was having no luck with
animals on board. There was the tree-crab from the Keeling Islands. No
sooner had it got a claw through its prison-box than my sea-jacket,
hanging within reach, was torn to ribbons. Encouraged by this success,
it smashed the box open and escaped into my cabin, tearing up things
generally, and finally threatening my life in the dark. I had hoped to
bring the creature home alive, but this did not prove feasible. Next
the goat devoured my straw hat, and so when I arrived in port I had
nothing to wear ashore on my head. This last unkind stroke decided his
fate. On the 27th of April the _Spray_ arrived at Ascension, which is
garrisoned by a man-of-war crew, and the boatswain of the island came
on board. As he stepped out of his boat the mutinous goat climbed into
it, and defied boatswain and crew. I hired them to land the wretch at
once, which they were only too willing to do, and there he fell into
the hands of a most excellent Scotchman, with the chances that he
would never get away. I was destined to sail once more into the depths
of solitude, but these experiences had no bad effect upon me; on the
contrary, a spirit of charity and even benevolence grew stronger in my
nature through the meditations of these supreme hours on the sea.

In the loneliness of the dreary country about Cape Horn I found myself
in no mood to make one life less in the world, except in self-defense,
and as I sailed this trait of the hermit character grew till the
mention of killing food-animals was revolting to me. However well I
may have enjoyed a chicken stew afterward at Samoa, a new self
rebelled at the thought suggested there of carrying chickens to be
slain for my table on the voyage, and Mrs. Stevenson, hearing my
protest, agreed with me that to kill the companions of my voyage and
eat them would be indeed next to murder and cannibalism.

As to pet animals, there was no room for a noble large dog on the
_Spray_ on so long a voyage, and a small cur was for many years
associated in my mind with hydrophobia. I witnessed once the death of
a sterling young German from that dreadful disease, and about the same
time heard of the death, also by hydrophobia, of the young gentleman
who had just written a line of insurance in his company's books for
me. I have seen the whole crew of a