with extra liquor and
other indulgences, which, as captain, he could command. Newton,
however, he still detained under an arrest, watching him most carefully
each time that he was necessitated to come on deck. The fact was,
Jackson, aware that his life would be forfeited to the laws of his
country, had resolved to wreck the brig, upon one of the reefs to the
northward, then take to his boats, and escape to one of the French
islands. At this instigation, the body of the man had been thrown
overboard by some of the crew, when they were in a state of half
intoxication.

Newton, who had been below four days, had retired as usual to his
hammock, when a sudden shock, accompanied by the fall of the masts by
the board, woke him from a sound sleep to all the horrors of shipwreck.
The water pouring rapidly through the sides of the vessel, proved to him
that there was no chance of escape except by the boats. The shriek, so
awful when raised in the gloom of night by seamen anticipating immediate
death, the hurried footsteps above him, the confusion of many voices,
with the heavy blows from the waves against the side of the vessel, told
him that danger was imminent, even if escape were possible. He drew on
his trousers, and rushed to the door of his cabin. Merciful Heaven!
what was his surprise, his horror, to find that it was fastened outside.
A moment's thought at the malignity of the wretch (for it was indeed
Jackson, who, during the night, had taken such steps for his
destruction) was followed by exertions to escape. Placing his shoulders
against his sea-chest, and his feet against the door, his body in nearly
a horizontal position, he made a violent effort to break open the door.
The lock gave way, but the door did not open more than one or two
inches, for Jackson to make sure had coiled down against it a hawser
which lay a few yards further forward in the steerage, the weight of
which the strength of no five men could remove. Maddened with the idea
of perishing by such treachery, Newton again exerted his frantic efforts
again and again without success. Between each pause, the voices of the
seamen asking for the oars and other articles belonging to the long
boat, proved to him that every moment of delay was a _nail_ in his
coffin. Again and again were his efforts repeated with almost
superhuman strength; but the door remained fixed as ever. At last, it
occurred to him that the hawser, which he had previously ascertai