to a foreign port. This was no longer "the baseless fabric of a
vision." The dream of my early years had come to pass; and I
looked forward with all the confidence of youth to a bold and
manly career, checkered it might be with toil and suffering, but
replete with stirring adventure, whose wild and romantic charms
would be cheaply won by wading through a sea of troubles. I now
realized the feeling which has since been so well described by
the poet:

"A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep.

"Like an eagle caged, I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore;
O, give me the flashing brine,
The spray, and the tempest's roar."


Chapter II
INCIDENTS AT SEA

The Dolphin was what is termed, in nautical parlance, an
"hermaphrodite brig," of about one hundred and fifty tons burden;
and had been engaged, for some twelve or fifteen years, in the
West India trade. This vessel could not with propriety be
regarded as a model of grace and beauty, but gloried in bluff
bows, a flat bottom, and a high quarter-deck; carried a large
cargo for her tonnage, and moved heavily and reluctantly through