t keep him," answered the captain; "we are bound for the West
Indies, you know, and shall require every man we can lay hold of."

This settled the point--O'Higgins the rebel leader, or rather Higson, as
he called himself, was regularly entered on the books of the _Cynthia_.
He, in vain, made several efforts to escape; once he narrowly escaped,
being shot in the attempt. He had jumped into a boat at night, and was
pulling away from the ship when he was overtaken, and being brought back
was put into irons till the frigate sailed. Had he been in Cork
harbour, he would have had little difficulty in effecting his purpose.
Hearing, however, that a son of the Earl of Kilfinnan was on board, he
consoled, himself with the reflection that he should have an opportunity
of wreaking his vengeance on the head of the midshipman. How the lad
had in any way given him cause of offence, none but a distorted
imagination could have supposed. He had certainly attempted for a very
indefinite object of his own to burn down the Earl's residence and to
murder the inhabitants, and because he had been foiled in the attempt,
captured and punished, he persuaded himself that he was fully justified
in desiring to kill or injure the Earl's unoffending son. Such,
however, was the style of reasoning in which so-called Irish patriots of
those days, and, perhaps, in later times, were apt to indulge.

At length, powder and stores having been received on board, and two or
three gun-room officers and several passed midshipmen having joined, the
_Cynthia_ made sail, and standing out of the harbour, a course was
shaped for the West Indies, her destined station.

The frigate had been for some time at sea, and during a light wind she
fell in with a homeward bound merchantman. These were the days of the
press-gang, and under such circumstances every merchantman was visited,
that the seamen on board who had not a protection might be carried off
to serve in the Royal Navy. This was a cruel regulation, but, at the
same time, it seemed the only feasible one to our forefathers for
manning the king's ships. Often good men were thus picked up, but more
frequently bad and discontented ones. The merchant ship was ordered to
heave to, and the second lieutenant, with a boat's crew armed to the
teeth, went on board. The whole of the crew were directed to come upon
deck. Their names were called over, and three able seamen were found
who did not possess a protection