A TUB ADVENTURE. 243 



the captain to regard us at first with suspicion, taking us not 

 improbably for outlaws, unfit for other society than savage 

 men and beasts. By degrees, however, his mind, as to our 

 proper character, was set at rest, and we were hospitably 

 entertained on board his ship, which was scrupulously clean 

 and orderly. 



The crews of many of the Avhaling and guano ships who 

 were in the habit of frequenting Walfisch Bay had behaved 

 very outrageously, either by plundering, or wantonly destroy- 

 ing the contents of the temporary store-house. On one oc- 

 casion they had been amusingly baffled in their dishonest and 

 disreputable practices. At the time of which I am now 

 speaking, the store was tenanted by Mr. Dickson, the trader, 

 who possessed some very fine lion cubs. These a certain cap- 

 tain determined to purloin, and, for that purpose, sent a 

 number of his men in the dead of the night to carry them 

 away. The animals were usually kept in a large tub or bar- 

 rel ; but it so happened that, on the very evening the master 

 had fixed on for the execution of his plan, they had been re- 

 moved elsewhere, and that Mr. Bassingweight, one of Mr. 

 Dickson's employes, had taken up his abode in their old quar- 

 ters. The sailors entered the building unperceived, and be- 

 gan rapidly to roll the tub away. Mr. Bassingweight at first 

 imagined he was dreaming ; but, as the motion became more 

 violent, the thumping of his head against the wooden walls 

 soon brought him to his senses, on which he roared out most 

 lustily. The unexpected and strange noise so terrified the 

 sailors that they made a precipitate retreat. 



The next morning, the captain, having previously had the 

 audacity to possess himself of one of Mr. Dickson's horses, 

 came riding, very drunk, to his house, and in an imperious 

 and impudent tone demanded the cubs to be given up to him. 

 At the same time, he thrust an immense dagger through a dish 

 of pancakes which a servant was busy preparing. Mr. Dick- 

 son was not at home ; but his wife, who was a shrewd and 



