a colonial public. Some of the crew of our vessel, exasperated by
the conduct of the captain, who refused to allow them any liberty on
shore after their long voyage, and encouraged and even led on by the
chief mate, had broken into the store-room, and consumed a quantity
of spirits and other stores. Now as we had been most shabbily
treated by the miserly and ruffian captain, and as the stores thus
stolen had been paid for by the passengers, and withheld from them
upon the voyage (stolen, in fact, by the captain himself), we were
delighted with the robbery, and extremely sorry to hear that the
chief mate had been committed to prison for trial as the principal
offender. In fact, the captain thought proper to wink at the conduct
of the others, as he could not afford to part with any more of his
crew. The General Quarter Sessions drew nigh, and the day before
they commenced I received a kind of petition from the prisoner,
entreating me to aid him at this pinch, as he had not a friend in
that part of the world, and would inevitably be ruined for what he
considered rather a meritorious action -- taking vengeance on the
stinginess of the captain. Though I did not see exactly of what
benefit I could be to him, I repaired to the court-house on the day
of trial. It was crowded with people, as such places always are when
prisoners are to be tried; and as I had met at dinner most of the
magistrates on the Bench, I did not much like the idea of making my
first public appearance before them as a friend of the gentleman in
the dock, who had improperly appropriated the goods of his employer.

The amiable desire, however, of paying off old scores due to the
captain, annihilated every other feeling; and when the prisoner, on
being asked whether he was guilty or not guilty of the felony laid to
his charge, instead of answering, cast his imploring eyes upon me, as
though I knew more of the business than himself, I could not refrain