threw overboard the boatswain. Wells, the
cooper, they let go because he had often
given them water. Told describes the sequel
in his own simple way: "The cooper then
got over the quarter-deck bulkhead to the
arms-chest, took up a loaded pistol, and shot
Adam through the head; the other slaves, at
seeing their champion dead, ran all down
between decks, were closely confined, and admirably
well secured, to prevent a second massacre;
and as the captain lay dangerously ill, and only
five men able to work the ship, we, with the
greatest and most elaborate toil, reached the
West Indies in three weeks. Upon the ship's
arrival there, the owner of her made the cooper
a present of sixty pounds for his services on
board her at the time of those assassinations."

While at Calabar, Told, sent on shore
armed, "to enforce trade," saw a negro
dressed in a thick silk grass net, as Mumbo
Jumbo, flogging the women. This supposed
demon threatened Told, who drew his hanger,
resolving, if the rascal had not fled, to have
cut off his head.

The admirers of Barry Cornwall's beautiful
poem of "The Admiral" will be interested
with a superstition of the sailors, related by
Told, as preceding the death of Captain Roach:

"Every day, in the course of his weakness in
body, he made repeated efforts to reach the
cabin windows, in order to receive the cooling
air; and at whatever times he looked in the
water, a devil-fish was regularly swimming at
the stern of the ship; he did not appear to be a
fish of prey, but his breadth from fin to fin was
about twenty-eight feet, and in length about
seven or eight, with a wide tail, and two ivory
horns in front. He followed the ship, to our
best calculation, near one thousand eight hundred
miles; nor was it remembered by any of the
ship's crew that a fish of that nature had made
its appearance in the course of any of their
voyages. Perpetual attempts to destroy or
catch this monster was made, by the fastening
a thick rope round the body of a dead negro,
and casting him overboard, but it was ineffectual;
the fish swam close under our stern, got
his horns entangled in the rope, underran it to
the end, and then tossed his refused prey
several yards above the water. When the captain
died, he forsook the ship, and we saw him
no more."

Told's troubles were not over yet. Between
Jamaica and Cuba they were boarded
by Spanish pirates, and were instantly stripped
and ordered for execution at eight o'clock the
following morning, on the platform under Cape
Nicholas. Told hid the captain's gold watch
under the coals in the forecastle, and, being
ordered to surrender it, was followed down the
forecastle and stunned by a thievish Spanish
sailor, who then stole the watch. This being
told the Spanish commander, he instantly got
back the watch, and let Told and his companions
weigh anchor for England. But misfortunes
were still waiting for them, as the devil-fish had
waited for the captain. Three days after the
pirates let them go out of their clutches, the
sentinel one morning reported to the man at
the helm fifty sail of ships on the lee bow.
These ships, however, proved to be the teeth of a
reef, and the next moment the unlucky vessel
was on the rocks, irrecoverably lost. The long-boat
was instantly lowered, but, being very
leaky, sank to the gunwale, and spoiled all the
bags of biscuit that had been saved. The men,
however, erected an awning to keep off the
insufferable heat, and began to explore the coast
of the island in their yawl. It promised
nothing but land-crabs and sea-fish. The captain
then forced Told and three or four other sailors
to swim to the wreck, two miles distant, to
roll ashore some casks of fresh water. Told,
who had seen in the harbour of St. Thomas
three sharks divide a man between them, swam
in fear and dread, but nevertheless effected his
return in safety. After three weeks spent in
deplorable misery, the clouds of mosquitoes
became so troublesome that Told and his
companions, who were almost naked, had to bury
themselves in the sand, even their hands and
faces, only clearing at intervals their mouths and
noses in order to breathe. On his return from
a reconnoitring tour round the island, Told was
ordered to put out to a sloop lying in the offing.
When they came up to the vessel, its crew
presented loaded blunderbusses, and threatened to
fire on them and send the yawl to the bottom with
a shot from a six-pounder, thinking they were
pirates. Eventually the captain, however, became
reassured, and sent his boats to save the rum,
cotton, and pimento from the shattered vessel,
aided by the boat of some Virginian turtle
fishermen. They then set sail for Boston, and
in three weeks came in sight of the Gay Head
of St. Matthias's Vineyard, as that curiously
stratified headland is called by the Americans.
The very night they came to anchor, the vessel
drifted on the rocks during a storm, and was
lost. Told swam naked to land, with four others,
and getting a rope on shore, saved the rest of
their companions. The governor of the island,
a rich man, with two thousand head of cattle
and twenty thousand sheep, wished Told to
marry one of his daughters; but Told declined,
and crossed over to Sandwich, the nearest town
on the mainland. Here and at Hanover the poor
shipwrecked men were treated with the greatest
kindness and hospitality. Told's brief notes
upon Boston are eminently characteristic of the
man. "We soon," he says, "entered Boston,
a commodious beautiful city, with seventeen
spired meetings, the Dissenting religion being
then established in that part of the world. I
resided here for the space of four months, and
lodged with Captain Seaborn, at Deacon Townsend's,
by trade a blacksmith. Here I shall only
make a few observations, touching the nature and
disposition of the inhabitants of that city. Their
behaviour is altogether amiable, as peacemakers;
and they are naturally blessed with humane
inclinations, together with such strict order and
economy as I never before observed; nor do I
ever remember to have heard one oath uttered,