I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
leaving my fisherman in the lurch.
The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
Still, our living and our treatment were both good.
At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
think he would prove so true a prophet.
Chapter XVIII.
I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks.
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