The Boy Signed The Articles, Received His Advance, Laid Out
A Little Of It In Clothes, And Spent The Rest,
And was ready to
go on board, when, upon the morning of sailing, he heard that the
ship was bound
Upon the North-west Coast, on a two or three years'
voyage, and was not going to Europe. Frightened at this prospect,
he slipped away when the crew was going aboard, wandered up into
another part of the town, and spent all the forenoon in straying
about the common, and the neighboring streets.
Having no money, and all his clothes and other things being in
the chest, on board, and being a stranger, he became tired and
hungry, and ventured down toward the shipping, to see if the vessel
had sailed. He was just turning the corner of a street, when the
shipping-master, who had been in search of him, popped upon him,
seized him, and carried him on board. He cried and struggled,
and said he did not wish to go in the ship, but the topsails
were at the mast-head, the fasts just ready to be cast off, and
everything in the hurry and confusion of departure, so that he was
hardly noticed; and the few who did inquire about the matter were
told that it was merely a boy who had spent his advance and tried
to run away. Had the owners of the vessel known anything of the
matter, they would have interfered at once; but they either knew
nothing of it, or heard, like the rest, that it was only an unruly
boy who was sick of his bargain. As soon as the boy found himself
actually at sea, and upon a voyage of two or three years in length,
his spirits failed him; he refused to work, and became so miserable,
that Captain Arthur took him into the cabin, where he assisted
the steward, and occasionally pulled and hauled about decks.
He was in this capacity when we saw him; and though it was
much better for him than the life in the forecastle, and the
hard work, watching, and exposure, which his delicate frame could
not have borne, yet, to be joined with a black fellow in waiting
upon a man whom he probably looked upon as but little, in point
of education and manners, above one of his father's servants, was
almost too much for his spirit to bear. Had he entered upon his
situation of his own free will, he could have endured it; but to
have been deceived, and, in addition to that, forced into it,
was intolerable. He made every effort to go home in our ship,
but his captain refused to part with him except in the way of
exchange, and that he could not effect. If this account of the
whole matter, which we had from the boy, and which was confirmed
by all the crew, be correct, I cannot understand why Captain Arthur
should have refused to let him go, especially being a captain who
had the name, not only with that crew, but with all whom he had
ever commanded, of an unusually kind-hearted man.
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