not refer to them. Now, as
to the third point,--discipline. So long as you are on board, I expect
obedience in everything; that you agree with your messmates, and never
tell a lie. On shore, you may cut each other's throats to your heart's
content. Remember, then; the lesson is easy enough: if you quarrel with
your comrades, I 'll flog you; if you ever deceive me by an untruth,
I'll blow your brains out!" The voice in which he spoke these last few
words grew harsher and louder, and at the end it became almost a shout
of angry denunciation.

"For your private governance, I may say, you'll find it wise to be
good friends with Halkett, and, if you can, with Jarasch. Go now; I 've
nothing more to say."

I was about to retire, when he called me back.

"Stay! you've said nothing to me, nor have I to you, about your wages."

"I want none, sir. It is enough for me if I am provided in all money
could buy for me."

"No deceit, sir! No trickery with _me!_" cried he, fiercely, and he
glared savagely at me.

"It is not deceit, nor trick either," said I, boldly; "but I see, sir,
it is not likely you 'll ever trust one whom you saw in the humble
condition you found me. Land me, then, at the first port you put in to.
Leave me to follow out my fortune my own way."

"What if I take you at your word," said he, "and leave you among the red
Moors, on the coast of Barbary?"

I hung my head in shame and dismay.

"Ay, or dropped you with the Tongo chiefs, who'd grill you for
breakfast?"

"But we are nigh England now, sir."

"We shall not long be so," cried he, joyfully. "If this breeze last,
you 'll see Cape Clear by sunrise, and not look on it again at sunset.
There, away with you! Tell Halkett I desire that you should be mustered
with the rest of the fellows, learn the use of a cutlass, and to load a
pistol without blowing your fingers off."

He motioned me now to leave, and I withdrew, if I must own it, only
partially pleased with my new servitude. One word here to explain my
conduct, which perhaps in the eyes of some, may appear inconsistent or
improbable. It may be deemed strange and incomprehensible why I, poor,
friendless, and low-born, should have been indifferent, even to the
refusal of all wages. The fact is this: I had set out upon my "life
pilgrimage" with a most firm conviction that one day or other, sooner or
later, I should be a "gentleman;" that I should mix on terms of equality
with the best and the highest, n