A Cousin And Classmate Of Mine, Mr. Channing, Went As
Supercargo, Not Having Consulted Me As To The Captain.
First,
Captain Thompson got into difficulties with another American vessel
on the coast, which charged him with having taken some advantage of
her in getting pepper; and then with the natives, who accused him
of having obtained too much pepper for his weights.
The natives
seized him, one afternoon, as he landed in his boat, and demanded
of him to sign an order on the supercargo for the Spanish dollars
that they said were due them, on pain of being imprisoned on shore.
He never failed in pluck, and now ordered his boat aboard, leaving
him ashore, the officer to tell the supercargo to obey no direction
except under his hand. For several successive days and nights,
his ship, the Alciope, lay in the burning sun, with rain-squalls
and thunder-clouds coming over the high mountains, waiting for a
word from him. Toward evening of the fourth or fifth day he was
seen on the beach, hailing for the boat. The natives, finding they
could not force more money from him, were afraid to hold him longer,
and had let him go. He sprang into the boat, urged her off with the
utmost eagerness, leaped on board the ship like a tiger, his eyes
flashing and his face full of blood, ordered the anchor aweigh,
and the topsails set, the four guns, two on a side, loaded with all
sorts of devilish stuff, and wore her round, and, keeping as close
into the bamboo village as he could, gave them both broadsides,
slam-bang into the midst of the houses and people, and stood out
to sea!
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