300 The Man of Ill-Omen. [Sept. 



suddenly changed their minds. The vessel was put about ; and we were 

 taken formal possession of in the name of his ]Majesty of the two Sicilies. 



" From that moment, I gave up my worldly possessions for lost. If 

 we had fallen into the hands of a regular pirate^ we might have con- 

 trived to keep a few of our piastres. But I knew the searching hand of 

 law, and set myself down as lucky to escape with my head on my 

 shoulders. Even of that I was not perfectly sure, when I saw the per- 

 sonage who commanded the brigantine : it was my old friend of the cus- 

 toms. He had recognized me at a glance, as I stood forlorn on the deck, 

 taking what I thought my last look at the brigantine. On being brought 

 up for examination before this new scourge of the ' free trade/ I denied 

 all possibility of my ever having seen him before. He listened with a 

 smile ; and, ordering my rags to be stripped off, and a stout iron collar 

 and handcuffs to be put in their place, saw me carried down to his 

 cabin, with a promise of preserving me to be hanged on the point at 

 Capri, for a general warning to the contraband. In about an hour, which 

 was employed in plundering the unlucky schooner, he came down ; and, 

 while he employed himself in unpacking my trunk, and robbing me 

 deliberately, he told me that the whole affair was of my own doing ; 

 that my exploits in Barcelona having stripped him of his office, he had 

 purchased the command of one of the custom-house cruizers ; and was 

 now rewarded for all his troubles, by making an example of the rascal 

 who had caused them. — My prospects, on this occasion, certainly were 

 not brilliant. But ' patienza !' He had robbed me of every testoon 

 I possessed on earth ; and nothing prepares a man so much for being 

 hanged as the certainty of being starved. I bade him do his worst, and 

 roundly acquainted him with the fact that ill-luck would be his portion. 

 My wisdom was recompensed only by a kick, which I bore with a per- 

 fect resolve that it should be repaid in due season, and with compound 

 interest. 



" The philosophy with which I took the insult did me good service. 

 On that very night my jailer roused me from as sound a sleep as ever 

 wrapped a judge, by telling me that we were close in with the shore, 

 and that, if I chose to save my neck, now was the time. — ' The fact is,' 

 said he, ' I always had a regard for you ; and, though your Spanish trick 

 was a confoundedly slippery one, yet I will acknowledge that it shewed 

 genius. Still it was rash. You must have risen among us. You had a 

 plausible air, a sly tongue, and a conscience wide enough to swallow a 

 bribe as large as the exchequer. You might have made a figure in the 

 law : you had certainly the talents that might have made you a cardinal. 

 I had intended to make you a custom-house officer ; and there, with the 

 natural produce of fees, secret service-money, and smuggling, you must 

 in a few years have made your fortune.' 



" I began to feel the guilt of my offences, and professed myself a sin- 

 cere penitent. — ' Now,' said my master, ' as I see that virtue is taking 

 root in you again, I will show you that I can forgive. One half of 

 this prize is the king's ; but I know how little the poor man will ever 

 see of it, if it gets into the hands of the admiralty. So, to prevent ill 

 blood, and take away temptation from the heads of departments, I mean 

 to carry it to my own account. You know the coast well : take a boat, and 

 carry this letter to a friend, whom you will know by signal — the firing of a 

 pistol, off Pausilippo.' I expressed the greatest gratitude for being 

 allowed thus to exhibit my return to virtue. The boat was hoisted out, 



