472 LEAVES FROM A LOG. 



There seemed to be a very good understanding between them ; they 

 joked and laughed together continually. 



There stood a tall and slender Corsican selling brandy, Madeira, 

 and French wines at the reasonable rate of three reals (about 

 fifteenpence) the pailful. To facilitate sales, several pipes and other 

 casks were scuttled, that is, square holes were cut in the bulge big 

 enough to admit the largest bucket, with which he was bailing out 

 the liquors to his customers. The captain was bargaining with an 

 Angosturian dealer, whose launch lay in the river, offering him 

 several hundred jars of grapes at a real the jar, and a quantity of 

 dried fruit at much the same rate. In another place stood a French 

 sailor trying to sell a mass of various kinds of trinkets and jewellery 

 (thrown in an old hat-box^ at one-third of the value of their metal. 



" Do you wants to buy a watch, Sir ?" said one of the negroes I 

 have just described, at the same time putting into my hands an old- 

 fashioned chronometer, made by Harrison, with heavy gold cases ; 

 while curiosity induced me to examine it, he added, " I wants money, 

 Sir, or I wouldn't part with her. Our second lieutenant there, Tom 

 Wilson, says she keeps good time, and will tell you where you are, let 

 you be where you will. I dosen't understand the watch myself, be- 

 cause I runn'd away from school young, which is so long ago that I 

 quite forgets how to read. Howsomdever, you shall have that watch 

 for ten dollars : she is worth the money, the outside you see is yeller ; 

 for what I knows she may be gold." I perceived that the chrono- 

 meter was capped, jewelled, and exquisitely finished. The devil, 

 who is an excellent casuist, whispered in my ear that it was worth 

 80/. or 100/., and the fellow not knowing its value might break it up; 

 but conscience will intrude upon bargains of this nature, and the 

 idea of buying from a pirate a watch plundered from some captain, 

 who, perhaps, was murdered by the wretch with whom I was at that 

 moment in communication, was not the most pleasant reflection in 

 the world. I returned him the chronometer, and kept my dollars. 



During this man's conference with me, he pointed to his second 

 lieutenant, whom I had not before observed ; as he was slowly prome- 

 nading a little distance from the rest of the crew, regardless of their 

 occupations. There was something in this man's appearance different 

 from the rest of his party. Curiosity impelled me to direct my way 

 towards him. We crossed each other's path ; and he, with some 

 politeness, saluted me first in Spanish ; but instantly observing by 

 my dress, I suppose, that I was an Englishman, repeated in English, 

 " Good day, Sir." Brief as were these words, their accent, and the 

 slight bow that accompanied them, indicated that he was not of the 

 herd : his appearance confirmed this. He was about five feet nine 

 inches in height, and of a remarkable good figure ; his features were 

 what might he called f( aristocratic." He had a fine high forehead, 

 and rather a large though well-formed nose, with this peculiarity, that 

 it descended in a straight line from his forehead without any inden- 

 tation near the brows ; his eyes were full, dark, and expressive ; his 

 hair and eyebrows were of a glossy black, so were his whiskers, 

 which were full and curly. His dress, although plain, and cut after 

 the fashion of that of a common sailor, was of the best materials, 



