This they did all day long for several
days, until their hides were all discharged, when a gang of them
were sent on board the Alert, to help us steeve our hides. This was
a windfall for us, for they had a set of new songs for the capstan and
fall, and ours had got nearly worn out by six weeks' constant use. I
have no doubt that this timely reinforcement of songs hastened our
work several days.
Our cargo was now nearly all taken in; and my old friend, the
Pilgrim, having completed her discharge, unmoored, to set sail the
next morning on another long trip to windward. I was just thinking
of her hard lot, and congratulating myself upon my escape from her,
when I received a summons into the cabin. I went aft, and there found,
seated round the cabin table, my own captain, Captain Faucon of the
Pilgrim, and Mr. R---, the agent. Captain T---turned to me and asked
abruptly--
"D---, do you want to go home in the ship?"
"Certainly, sir," said I; "I expect to go home in the ship."
"Then," said he, "you must get some one to go in your place on board
the Pilgrim."
I was so completely "taken aback" by this sudden intimation, that
for a moment I could make no reply.
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