A COUNTRYMAN IN TROUBLE. 337 



be released, or I would ride to San Salvador on the 

 instant and make a complaint against him. Doctor 

 Drivin joined me, and Jemmy was released from the 

 stocks, but put under guard in the quartel. This will 

 probably never reach the eyes of any of his friends, but 

 I will not mention his name. He was from the little 

 town of Esopus, on the Hudson. In 1834 he sailed 

 from New- York in the sloop-of-war Peacock for the 

 Pacific station ; was transferred to the North Carolina, 

 and regularly discharged at Valparaiso ; entered the 

 Chilian naval service, and after plenty of fighting and 

 no prize-money, shipped on board this brig. I repre- 

 sented that he was liable to be tried for mutiny, and 

 had only escaped the stocks by my happening to be at 

 the port ; that I could do nothing more for him ; and 

 he might be kept on shore till the vessel sailed, and 

 carried on board in irons. It was a critical moment in 

 the young man's life ; and, as one destitute of early op- 

 portunities, and whom necessity had probably doomed 

 to a wayward life, and, moreover, as a countryman, I 

 was anxious to save him from the effects of headstrong 

 passion. The captain said he was the best sailor on 

 board ; and as he was short of hands, I procured from 

 him a promise that, if Jemmy would return to his duty, 

 he would take no notice of what had passed, and would 

 give him his discharge at the first port where he could 

 procure a substitute. 



Fortunately, in the afternoon Captain D'Yriarte was 

 sufficiently recovered to sail, and before going on board 

 my vessel I took Jemmy to his. She was the dirtiest 

 vessel I ever saw, and her crew a fair sample of the 

 villanous sailors picked up in the ports of the Pacific. 

 Among them, and as bad as any in appearance, was 

 another countryman. Jemmy's American accomplice. 



Vol. I.— U u 29 



