would not move, and thereupon he in a fever of gallantry jumped overboard
up to the waist in full fig; and one of the men following his example, we
were soon afloat. The ladies applauded, and the Captain sat in his wet
breaks for the rest of the voyage, in all the consciousness of being
considered a hero. Ducks and onions are the grand staple of Bermuda, but
there was a fearful dearth of both at the time I speak of; a knot of young
West India merchants, who, with heavy purses and large credits on England,
had at this time domiciled themselves in St George's, to batten on the
spoils of poor Jonathan, having monopolized all the good things of the
place. I happened to be acquainted with one of them, and thereby had less
reason to complain, but many a poor fellow, sent ashore on duty, had to put
up with but Lenten fair at the taverns. At length, having refitted, we
sailed, in company with the Rayo frigate, with a convoy of three
transports, freighted with a regiment for New Orleans, and several
merchantmen, bound for the West Indies.

"The still vexed Bermoothes"--I arrived at them in a gale of wind, and I
sailed from them in a gale of wind. What the climate may be in the summer
I don't know; but during the time I was there, it was one storm after
another.

We sailed in the evening with the moon at full, and the wind at west--north
--west. So soon as we got from under the lee of the land, the breeze
struck us, and it came on to blow like thunder, so that we were all soon
reduced to our storm staysails; and there we were, transports, merchantmen,
and men--of--war, rising on the mountainous billows one moment, and the
next losing sight of every thing but the water and sky in the deep trough
of the sea, while the seething foam was blown over us in showers from the
curling manes of the roaring waves. But overhead, all this while, it was
as clear as a lovely winter moon could make it, and the stars shone