We were now through all our work, and had nothing more to do until
the Pilgrim should come down again. We had nearly got through our
provisions too, as well as our work; for our officer had been very
wasteful of them, and the tea, flour, sugar, and molasses, were all
gone. We suspected him of sending them up to the town; and he always
treated the squaws with molasses, when they came down to the beach.
Finding wheat-coffee and dry bread rather poor living, we dubbed
together, and I went up to the town on horseback with a great salt-bag
behind the saddle, and a few reals in my pocket, and brought back
the bag fun of onions, pears, beans, water-melons, and other fruits;
for the young woman who tended the garden, finding that I belonged
to the American ship, and that we were short of provisions, put in a
double portion. With these we lived like fighting-cocks for a week
or two, and had, besides, what the sailors call "a blow-out on sleep;"
not turning out in the morning until breakfast was ready. I employed
several days in overhauling my chest, and mending up all my old
clothes, until I had got everything in order- patch upon patch, like
a sand-barge's mainsail.
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