the
waves, yelling what appeared like a song of triumph, in the burden
of which some on deck joined. The ship soon left the 'ignorant
creatures' behind, and their voices were heard more and more faint;
the black head of one, and then another, disappearing, until the
sea was without a spot and the air without a sound. The captain,
having finished his breakfast, came on deck, and was informed of the
revolt. He grew pale with rage, and, in dread of losing all his
cargo, determined to make an example. He selects six from those who
had joined in the chorus, has three hanged, and three shot before
their companions. That night the boy could not sleep. The negroes,
in consequence of the revolt, are kept closer than ever. As a
consequence, ophthalmia makes its appearance among them. The captain
is compelled to have them between decks, and the surgeon attends
them 'just as if they were white men.' All the slaves, then the
crew, save one, the captain, surgeon, and mate, the boy, and at last
the solitary one of the crew, are stone blind. 'Mother,' says the
boy, 'your son was blind for ten days.'

"Some of the crew were swearing from morning till night, some
singing abominable songs, some kissing the crucifix and making vows
to the saints. The ship in the meanwhile helmless, but with sails
set, driving on like the phantom vessel, is assailed by a storm, and
the canvass bursts with loud reports, the masts strain and crack,
she carrying on her course down the abyss of billows, and being cast
forth like a log on the heights of the waters. The storm dies away,
when the crew are startled with a sound which proves to be a hail
from another vessel. They ask for hands, and are answered with a
demand for like assistance. The one crew is too few to spare them,
and the other is too blind to go. 'At the commencement of this
horrible coincidence,' continues the boy, 'there was a silence among
us for some moments, like that of death. It was broken by a fit of
_laughter_ in which I joined myself; and before our awful merriment
was over, we could hear, by the sound of the curses which the
Spaniard shouted against us, that the St. Leo had drifted away.'

"The captain, crew, and some of the slaves gradually recover; some
partially, with the loss of an eye, others entirely. The conclusion
of the journal must be told in the boy's own words:--

"'This morning the captain called all hands on deck, negroes and
all. The shores of Guadaloupe were in sig