286 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



mither were baitli poor, and when I thought I had 

 enough schooling, our family being big, I bound my- 

 self- as an apprentice on board a bark called the 

 Kilmors, that traded out of Clyde to the West Indies. 

 She was one of the old-fashioned sort, and would 

 make as much on a wind as a hay-stack. Still, she 

 was a snug little boat, strong as oak and dry as could 

 be. On the last run I made in her the captain took 

 sick and died, most before we lost sight of Cantire. 

 This made me second mate, and the former first 

 mate took charge. Our voyage was prosperous, and 

 we dropped anchor off Demerara in near the shortest 

 time that then ever had been made. One thing only 

 disturbed the harmony of the passage, viz., the 

 acting first officer was so puffed up with his new 

 post that, he neither performed his duty nor would let 

 others do theirs. The temporary captain was, after a 

 deal of forbearance, compelled to place him under 

 arrest, and prefer charges against him on dropping 

 anchor. The result was, he was discharged, and as 

 the bark was to go to sea immediately, and a first 

 mate could not be procured, I was advanced to act in 

 that capacity. 



" When we got back to Clyde, the very day we 

 sighted old Ailsa Craig, my time was out, and as we 

 ran up the river with a fair wind astern, and all our 

 stunsails set, I would have given most aucht if my 

 mither and farther who lived at Saltcoats, close by 

 could have seen their boy, in his new and advanced 

 berth. The owners of the old Kilmors launched a new 

 ship next year, and, much to my unexpected satisfac- 

 tion, I got the berth of first officer in her. A year or 

 two after, when at Jamaica, I was offered the command 



