years never again set foot
on the shores of old England. I knocked about all that time in
different climes and vessels, herding with the roughest and most
abandoned class of seamen, till I became almost as abandoned and rough
as they were. Still, during all my wanderings, I had a hankering for
the associates and the refinements of society I had so long quitted.
Thoughts of home would come back to me even in my wildest moments,
although I tried hard to keep them out. At length I returned to England
with more money in my pocket than I had ever again expected to possess.
Throwing aside my seafaring clothes as soon as I got on shore, I dressed
myself as a gentleman, and repairing to a fashionable watering-place,
where I found several old friends, managed to get into respectable
society. I forgot that unless I could obtain some employment my money
must soon come to an end. It did so, but the taste for good society had
been revived in me. It was now impossible to indulge in it, and I was
compelled once more to seek for a berth on board ship. Thoughtlessly, I
had never studied navigation while I was at sea, and consequently had
again to go before the mast. I got on board an Indiaman, and reached
Calcutta. On the return voyage we had a number of passengers. I of
course knew but little about them, as I seldom went aft except to take
my trick at the helm. I observed, however, among them a gentleman of
refined appearance, with his wife and their little boy. They had a
native nurse to take care of him. No one could be more affectionate
than the gentleman was to his wife and child, but he seemed of a
retiring disposition, and I seldom saw him speaking to any one else. We
had had particularly fine weather during the greater part of the
passage, when the ship was caught in a tremendous gale. During it the
masts were carried away, several of the hands--Lascars and Englishmen--
were lost overboard, while she sprung a leak, which kept all the crew
hard at work at the pumps.

"It became evident, indeed, before long, that unless the weather
moderated the ship would go down. We had four boats remaining, but as
they would not carry a third of the people on board, the captain ordered
all hands to turn to and build rafts. We were thus employed when night
came on; such a night I never before had seen. The thunder roared and
the lightning flashed around us, as if it would set the ship on fire.
Some hours passed away; we could