,
to make any good impression on me. We quarrelled so continually, that
he was dismissed, and I was persuaded to go to school again. Once more
I ran away; but this time I did not run home. I wanted to see the
world, and I was resolved to become a sailor. I cannot bear to dwell on
my ingratitude and heartlessness. I knew that my disappearance would
almost break my mother's heart, and that my father would suffer equally;
yet I persevered. I little thought what I was to go through. A fine
brig was on the point of sailing for the coast of Africa. I fell in
with the master, and offered to go with him. He asked no questions as
to who I was, or where I came from; but, wanting a boy, he shipped me at
once. The next day we were at sea, and all means of tracing me were
lost. I was not ill-treated; for the captain, though bad enough in many
respects, had taken a fancy to me. We were to engage, I found, in the
slave-trade. At first I was shocked at the barbarities I witnessed, but
soon got accustomed to them. We did not always keep to that business.
The profits were not large enough to satisfy our avarice; and even
piracy we did not hesitate to commit at times, when opportunity offered.
At length the brig was cast away, and many of the crew and all our
ill-gotten gains were lost. I, with two or three others, who escaped,
shipped on board a Spanish slaver. We changed from bad to worse.
Knives were in constant requisition; more than once I dyed my hands in
blood. I gained a name, though a bad one; and was feared, if not loved.
Such was the training--such the scenes of my youth. After a time I
began to weary of the life, and wished to see English faces, and to hear
English spoken once more; so, finding a vessel short of hands returning
home, I ran from the slaver, and shipped on board her. We were cast
away on the south coast of England; many of my shipmates never reached
the land. I was picked up by a boat's crew when almost exhausted, and
was carried by them into a cave near the shore.

"They belonged to a large band of smugglers,--their leader one of the
most daring and successful on the coast. I was too much hurt to be
moved for some days, and passed the time listening to their adventures,
which they were at no pains to conceal. I became so much interested in
their mode of life, that a few words of encouragement from their chief,
who was known under the name of Myers, induced me to join them. I
thought I wou