East India Company; so I answered and said -

"'Captain, no to argol-bargol about the matter,' (for a' the time, I
thought upon how I had not been sworn in;)--'what will ye gie me, if
I take away my eyne out of the vessel?'

"'A thousand pounds,' cried he.

"'A bargain be't,' said I. I think, however, had I stood out I
might hae got mair. But it doesna rain thousands of pounds every
day; so, to make a long tale short, I got a note of hand on the Bank
of England for the sum, and, packing up my ends and my awls, left
the ship.

"It was my intent to have come immediately home to Scotland; but the
same afternoon, I was summoned by the Board at the Custom-house for
deserting my post; and the moment I went before them, they opened
upon me like my lord's pack of hounds, and said they would send me
to Newgate. 'Cry a' at ance,' quoth I; 'but I'll no gang.' I then
told them how I was na sworn, and under no obligation to serve or
obey them mair than pleasured mysel'; which set them a' again a
barking worse than before; whereupon, seeing no likelihood of an end
to their stramash, I turned mysel' round, and, taking the door on my
back, left them, and the same night came off on the Fly to
Edinburgh. Since syne they have been trying every grip and wile o'
the law to punish me as they threatened; but the laws of England are
a great protection to the people against arbitrary power; and the
letter that I have got to-day frae the nabob, tells me that the
commissioners hae abandoned the plea."