and with this sum he was so kind as to buy me a slave. In the
mean time I had bought a slave, so now I had two, and all went on
well for the next year.

But soon my plans grew too large for my means. One day some men
came to ask me to take charge of a slave ship to be sent out by
them. They said they would give me a share in the slaves, and pay
the cost of the stock. This would have been a good thing for me
if I had not had farms and land; but it was wild and rash to
think of it now, for I had made a large sum, and ought to have
gone on in the same way for three or four years more. Well, I
told these men that I would go with all my heart, if they would
look to my farm in the mean time, which they said they would do.

So I made my will, and went on board this ship on the same day on
which, eight years since, I had left Hull. She had six guns,
twelve men, and a boy. We took with us saws, chains, toys, beads,
bits of glass, and such like ware, to suit the taste of those
with whom we had to trade.

We were not more than twelve days from the Line, when a high wind
took us off we knew not where. All at once there was a cry of
"Land!" and the ship struck on a bank of sand, in which she sank
so deep that we could not get her off. At last we found that we
must make up our minds to leave her, and get to shore as well as
we could. There had been a boat at her stern, but we found it
had been torn off by the force of the waves. One small boat was
still left on the ship's side, so we got in it.

There we were all of us on the wild sea. The heart of each now