A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE. 287 
coast. Our meal passed pleasantly; and while performing 
the office of host, his brusqueness disappeared, and with it 
a good deal of the broad dialect.. The haggis was excellent, 
the bacon and chickens were as good, and the West Indian 
preserves which formed the dessert were of the best qual- 
ity. .As I stretched my limbs under his table in the snug 
little cabin, after the cloth had been removed, and a kettle 
of boiling water flanked with lemons had made its appear- 
ance, I felt satisfied that there were worse lots in the world 
than commanding a clipper schooner in the West Indian 
trade. s 
_As the toddy circulated our companionship increased ; 
and to a question I asked in reference to. his success in the 
last voyage, he made the following statement: “ Well, sir, 
you see a man that commenced the world without a baw- 
sbee. My faither and mither were baith poor; and when I 
thought I had enough schooling, our family being big, I 
bound myself 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 prosper- 
ous, and we dropped anchor off Demerara in near the short- 
est 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 hé neither 
performed his duty nor would let others do theirs. The 
temporary captain was, after a deal of forbearance, compel- 
led. to place him under arrest, and prefer charges against 
him on dropping anchor. The result was, he was dis- 
charged; and as the bark was to go to sea immediately, 
