WHILE I was busied with my friend in | song, which I thought highly injurious to the this practice, the doctor chanced to pass honour of my country, and therefore signified by the place where we were, and, stopping my resentment, by observing, that the Scots to observe me, appeared very well satisfied always laid their account with finding enewith my method of application; and after-mies among the ignorant, insignificant, and wards sent for me to his cabin, where, having malicious. This unexpected piece of assurexamined me touching my skill in surgery, ance enraged him to such a degree, that he and the particulars of my fortune, he interest- lent me a blow on the face, which I verily ed himself so far in my behalf, as to promise thought had demolished my cheekbone: I his assistance in procuring a warrant for me, was not slow in returning the obligation, and seeing I had been already found qualified at the affair began to be very serious, when by surgeons' hall for the station I filled on board; accident Mr Morgan, and one of the master's and in this good office he the more cordially mates, coming that way, interposed, and inengaged, when he understood I was nephew quiring into the cause, endeavoured to proto Lieutenant Bowling, for whom he express-mote a reconciliation; but finding us both ed a particular regard. In the meantime, I could learn from his discourse, that he did not intend to go to sea again with Captain Oakum, having, as he thought, been indifferently used by him during the last voyage.

event of the combat; and the Welshman, | to play, for the captain, by his sole word and after observing, that, in all likelihood, the power and command, had driven sickness a ancient Scots and Britons were the same pegging to the tevil, and there was no more people, bade me-" praise Got for putting malady on board. So saying, he drank off a mettle in my pelly, and strength in my limbs gill of brandy, sighed grievously three times, to support it." I acquired such reputation by poured forth an ejaculation of" Got bless this rencontre (which lasted twenty minutes), my heart, liver, and lungs !" and then began that every body became more cautious in be- to sing a Welsh song with great earnestness haviour towards me: though Crampley, with of visage, voice, and gesture. I could not his arm in a sling, talked very high, and conceive the meaning of this singular phenothreatened to seize the first opportunity of menon, and saw by the looks of Thomson, retrieving on shore the honour he had lost by who at the same time shook his head, that an accident, from which I could justly claim he suspected poor Cadwallader's brains were no merit. At this time, Captain Oakum hav- unsettled. He, perceiving our amazement, ing received sailing orders, came on board, told us he would explain the mystery; but, at and brought with him a surgeon of his own the same time, bade us take notice, that he country, who soon made us sensible of the loss had lived poy, pachelor, married man, and we suffered in the departure of Dr Atkins; widower, almost forty years, and in all for he was grossly ignorant, and intolerably that time, there was no man nor mother's assuming, false, vindictive, and unforgiving; son in the whole world who durst use a merciless tyrant to his inferiors, an abject him so ill as Captain Oagum had done. sycophant to those above him. In the morn- Then he acquainted us with the dialogue ing after the captain came on board, our that passed between them, as I have alfirst mate, according to custom, went to wait ready related it; and had no sooner finished on him with a sick list, which, when this this narration, than he received a message grim commander had perused, he cried with from the surgeon, to bring the sick list to the a stern countenance," Blood and oons! quarter-deck, for the captain had ordered all sixty-one sick people on board of my ship! the patients thither to be reviewed. This Hark'ee, you sir, I'll have no sick in my ship, inhuman order shocked us extremely, as we by G-d." The Welshman replied, he knew it would be impossible to carry some should be very glad to find no sick people on of them on the deck, without imminent danboard: but while it was otherwise, he did no ger of their lives; but as we likewise knew more than his duty in presenting him with a it would be to no purpose for us to remonlist. "You and your list may be d-d," (said strate against it, we repaired to the quarterthe captain, throwing it at him) "I say there deck in a body, to see this extraordinary shall be no sick in this ship while I have the muster; Morgan observing by the way, that command of her." Mr Morgan being nettled the captain was going to send to the other at this treatment, told him his indignation world a great many evidences to testify ought to be directed to Got Almighty, who against himself. When we appeared upon visited his people with distempers, and not to the deck, the captain bade the doctor, who him, who contributed all in his power towards stood bowing at his right hand, look at these their cure. The bashaw not being used to lazy lubberly sons of bs, who were good such behaviour in any of his officers, was en- for nothing on board but to eat the king's raged to fury at this satirical insinuation, and, provisions, and encourage idleness in the stamping with his foot, called him insolent skulkers. The surgeon grinned approbation, scoundrel, threatening to have him pinioned and, taking the list, began to examine the to the deck, if he should presume to utter complaints of each, as they could crawl to another syllable. But the blood of Caracta- the place appointed. The first who came cus being thoroughly heated, disdained to be under his cognizance was a poor fellow just restricted by such a command, and began to freed of a fever, which had weakened him so manifest itself in,-" Captain Oagum, I am a much, that he could hardly stand. Mr Mackshentleman of birth and parentage, look you, shane (for that was the doctor's name) havand peradventure I am moreover"-Here his ing felt his pulse, protested he was as well as harangue was broken off by the captain's any man in the world; and the captain desteward, who, being Morgan's countryman, livered him over to the boatswain's mate, hurried him out of the cabin before he had with orders that he should receive a round time to exasperate his master to a greater dozen at the gang-way immediately, for degree and this would certainly have been counterfeiting himself sick; but before the the case; for the indignant Welshman could discipline could be executed, the man dropt hardly be hindered, by his friend's arguments down on the deck, and had well nigh perishand entreaties, from re-entering the presence ed under the hands of the executioner. The chamber, and defying Captain Oakum to his next patient to be considered laboured under teeth. He was, however, appeased at length, a quartan ague, and being then in his interval and came down to the berth, where, finding of health, discovered no other symptoms of Thomson and me at work preparing medi- distemper than a pale meagre countenance, cines, he bade us leave off our labour and go and emaciated body; upon which he was

chief. This request the commander granted for his own sake, and the patient was produced, who insisted upon his being in his right wits with such calmness and strength of argument, that every body present was inclined to believe him, except Morgan, who affirmed there was no trusting to appearances; for he himself had been so much imposed upon by his behaviour two days before, that he had actually unbound him with his own hands and had well nigh been murdered for his pains: this was confirmed by the evidence of one of the waiters, who declared he had pulled this patient from the doctor's mate, whom he had gotten down and almost strang

declared fit for duty, and turned over to the boatswain: but, being resolved to disgrace the doctor, died upon the forecastle next day, during his cold fit. The third complained of a pleuritic stitch, and spitting of blood; for which Doctor Mackshane prescribed exercise at the pump, to promote expectoration but, whether this was improper for one in his situation, or that it was used to excess, I know not; for in less than half an hour he was suffocated with a deluge of blood that issued from his lungs. A fourth, with much difficulty, climbed to the quarter-deck, being loaded with a monstrous ascites or dropsy, that invaded his chest so much, he could scarce fetch his breath; but his disease being inter-led. To this the man answered, that the witpreted into fat, occasioned by idleness and ness was a creature of Morgan's, and was excess of eating, he was ordered, with a view suborned to give his testimony against him by to promote perspiration, and enlarge his chest, the malice of the mate, whom the defendant to go aloft immediately; it was in vain for had affronted, by discovering to the people on this unwieldy wretch to allege his utter inca-board that Mr Morgan's wife kept a gin shop pacity, the boatswain's driver was command-in Rag-fair. This anecdote produced a laugh ed to whip him up with the cat-o'nine-tails: at the expense of the Welshman, who, shakthe smart of this application made him exerting his head with some emotion, said,-“ Ay, himself so much, that he actually arrived at ay, 'tis no matter. Got knows it an arrant the puttoc shrouds; but when the enormous falsehood." Captain Oakum, without any weight of his body had nothing else to sup- further hesitation, ordered the fellow to be port it than his weakened arms, either out of unfettered, at the same time threatening to spite or necessity, he quitted his hold, and make Morgan exchange situations with him plumped into the sea, where he must have for his spite. But the Briton no sooner been drowned, had not a sailor, who was in heard the decision in favour of the madman, a boat alongside, saved his life, by keeping than he got up the mizen shrouds, crying to him afloat till he was hoisted on board by a Thomson and me to get out of his reach, for tackle. It would be tedious and disagreeable we would see him play the devil with a vento describe the fate of every miserable object geance. We did not think fit to disregard that suffered by the inhumanity and ignorance his caution, and accordingly got up on the of the captain and surgeon, who so wantonly poop, whence we beheld the maniac, as soon sacrificed the lives of their fellow-creatures. as he was released, fly at the captain like a Many were brought up in the height of fevers, fury, crying," I'll let you know, you scoun and rendered delirious by the injuries they drel, that I am commander of this vessel," received in the way. Some gave up the and pummelled him without mercy. The ghost in the presence of their inspectors; surgeon, who went to the assistance of his and others, who were ordered to their duty, patron, shared the same fate; and it was with languished a few days at work among their the utmost difficulty that he was mastered at fellows, and then departed without any cere- last, after having done great execution among mony. On the whole, the number of the those who opposed him. sick was reduced to less than a dozen; and the authors of this reduction were applauding themselves for the services they had done to their king and country, when the boatswain's mate informed his honour, that there was a man below lashed to his hammock by the direction of the doctor's mate, and that he begged hard to be released, affirming he had been so maltreated only for a grudge Mr Morgan bore him, and that he was as much in his senses as any man aboard. The captain hearing this, darted a severe look at the Welshman, and ordered the man to be brought up immediately; upon which Morgan protested with great fervency, that the person in question was as mad as a March hare; and begged, for the love of Got, they would at least keep his arms pinioned during his examination, to prevent him from doing mis

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The captain enraged, threatens to put the madman to death with his own hand-is diverted from that resolution by the arguments and persuasions of the first lieutenant and surgeon-we set sail for St Helen's, join the fleet under the command of Sir C-n-r O-le and proceed for the West Indies-are overtaken by a terrible tempest-my friend Jack Rattlin has his leg broken by a fall from the main-yardthe behaviour of Doctor MackshaneJack opposes the amputation of his limb, in which he is seconded by Morgan and me, who undertake the cure, and perform it successfully.

the wind through the shrouds, the confused noise of the ship's crew, the pipes of the boatswain and his mates, the trumpets of the lieutenants, and the clanking of the chain pumps. Morgan, who had never been at sea before, turned out in a great hurry, crying,— "Got have mercy and compassion upon us! I believe we have got upon the confines of Lucifer and the d-d!" while poor Thomson lay quaking in his hammock, putting up petitions to Heaven for our safety. I rose and joined the Welshman, with whom (after having fortified ourselves with brandy) I went above; but, if my sense of hearing was startled before, how must my sight have been appalled in beholding the effects of the storm! The sea was swelled into billows mountain high, on the top of which our ship sometimes hung as if it was about to be precipitated to the abyss below! Sometimes we sunk between two waves that rose on each side higher than our topmast head, and threaten

THE captain was carried into his cabin, so enraged with the treatment he had received, that he ordered the fellow to be brought before him, that he might have the pleasure of pistolling him with his own hand; and would certainly have satisfied his revenge in this manner, had not the first lieutenant remonstrated against it, by observing, that in all appearance the fellow was not mad but desperate; that he had been hired by some enemy of the captain to assassinate him, and therefore ought to be kept in irons till he could be brought to a court martial, which, no doubt, would sift the affair to the bottom (by which means important discoveries might be made), and then sentence the criminal to a death adequate to his demerits. This suggestion, improbable as it was, had the desired effect upon the captain, being exactly calculated for the meridian of his intellects; more especially as Doctor Mackshane espoused this opinion, in consequence of his previous declaration that the man was not mad. Mor-ed, by dashing together, to overwhelm us in gan, finding there was no more damage done, could not help discovering, by his countenance, the pleasure he enjoyed on this occasion and while he bathed the doctor's face with an embrocation, ventured to ask him, whether he thought there were more fools or madmen on board? But he would have been wiser in containing this sally, which his patient carefully laid up in his memory, to be taken notice of at a more fit season. Meanwhile, we weighed anchor, and on our way to the Downs, the madman, who was treated as prisoner, took an opportunity, while the sentinel attended him at the head, to leap overboard, and frustrate the revenge of the captain. We staid not long at the Downs, but took the benefit of the first easterly wind to go round to Spithead; where, having received on board provisions for six months, we sailed from St Helen's in the grand fleet bound for the West Indies, on the ever memorable expedition of Carthagena.

a moment! Of all our fleet, consisting of a hundred and fifty sail, scarce twelve appeared, and these driving under their bare poles, at the mercy of the tempest. At length the mast of one of them gave way, and tumbled overboard with a hideous crash! Nor was the prospect in our own ship much more agreeable; a number of officers and sailors ran backward and forward with distraction in their looks, hallooing to one another, and undetermined what they should attend to first. Some clung to the yards, endeavouring to unbend the sails, that were split into a thousand pieces, flapping in the wind; others tried to furl those which were yet whole, while the masts, at every pitch, bent and quivered like twigs, as if they would have shivered into innumerable splinters! While I considered this scene with equal terror and astonishment, one of the main braces broke, by the shock whereof two sailors were flung from the yard's arm into the sea, where they It was not without great mortification I perished, and poor Jack Rattlin was thrown saw myself on the point of being transported down upon the deck, at the expense of a to such a distant and unhealthy climate, des- brcken leg. Morgan and I ran immediately titute of every convenience that could render to his assistance, and found a splinter of the such a voyage supportable, and under the shin-bone thrust by the violence of the fall dominion of an arbitrary tyrant, whose com- through the skin. As this was a case of too mand was almost intolerable: however, as great consequence to be treated without the these complaints were common to a great authority of the doctor, I went down to the many on board, I resolved to submit patiently cabin to inform him of the accident, as well to my fate, and contrive to make myself as as to bring up dressings, which we always easy as the nature of the case would allow. kept ready prepared. I entered his apartWe got out of the channel with a prosperous ment without any ceremony, and, by the breeze, which died away, leaving us becalm-glimmering of a lamp, perceived him on his ed about fifty leagues to the westward of the Lizard; but this state of inaction did not last long; for next night our main-top sail was split by the wind, which in the morning increased to a hurricane. I was wakened by a most horrible din, occasioned by the play of the gun-carriages upon the deck above, the crackling of the cabins, the howling of

knees, before something that very much resembled a crucifix; but this I will not insist upon, that I may not seem too much a slave to common report, which, indeed, assisted my conjecture on this occasion, by representing Doctor Mackshane as a member of the church of Rome. Be this as it will, he got up in a sort of confusion, occasioned (I sup

of my skill, manifestly exulted in my fellowship, and asked Thomson's sentiments of the matter, in hopes of strengthening our association with him too, but he, being of a meek disposition, and either dreading the enmity of the surgeon, or speaking the dictates of his own judgment, in a modest manner, espoused the opinion of Mackshane, who, by this time, having consulted with himself, determined to act in such a manner as to screen himself from censure, and at the same time revenge himself on us for our arrogance in contradicting him. With this view, he asked if we would undertake to cure the leg at our peril? that is, be answerable for the consequence. To this question Morgan replied, that the lives of his creatures are in the hands of Got alone; and it would be great presumption in him to undertake for an event that was in the power of his Maker, no more than the doctor could promise to cure all the sick to whom he ad

pose) by his being disturbed in his devotion, gangrene. Morgan, who had a great opinion and, in a trice, snatched the subject of my suspicion from my sight. After making an apology for my intrusion, I acquainted him with the situation of Rattlin, but could by no means prevail upon him to visit him on deck, where he lay; he bade me desire the boatswain to order some of the men to carry him down to the cockpit, and in the mean time (said he) I will direct Thomson to get ready the dressings. When I signified to the boatswain the doctor's desire, he swore a terrible oath, that he could not spare one man from the deck, because he expected the mast would go by the board every minute. This piece of information did not at all contribute to my peace of mind; however, as my friend Rattlin complained very much, with the assistance of Morgan, I supported him to the lower deck, whither Mr Mackshane, after much entreaty, ventured to come, attended by Thomson with a box full of dressings, and his own servant, who carried a whole set of capital instruments. He ex-ministered his assistance; but if the patient amined the fracture and the wound; and concluding, from a livid colour extending itself upon the limb, that a mortification would ensue, resolved to amputate the leg immediately. This was a dreadful sentence to the patient, who recruiting himself with a quid of tobacco, pronounced, with a woful countenance,-"What! is there no remedy, doctor? must I be docked? can't you splice it?" "Assuredly, Doctor Mackshane," said the first mate, "with submission, and deference, and veneration to your superior abilities, and opportunities, and stations, look ye, I do apprehend and conjecture, and aver, that there is no occasion nor necessity to smite off this poor man's leg." "God Almighty bless you, dear Welshman!" cried Rattlin, "may you have fair wind and weather wheresoever you're bound, and come to an anchor in the road of heaven at last." Mackshane, very much incensed at his mate's differing in opinion from him so openly, answered, that he was not bound to give an account of his practice to him; and, in a peremptory tone, ordered him to apply the tourniquet; at the sight of which Jack, starting up, cried, -"Avast, avast! d-n my heart, if you clap your nippers on me, till I know wherefore! Mr Random, wont you lend a hand towards saving my precious limb? Odds heart, if Lieutenant Bowling was here, he would not suffer Jack Rattlin's leg to be chopped off like a piece of old junk." This pathetic address to me, joined to my inclination to serve my honest friend, and the reasons I had to believe there was no danger in delaying the amputation, induced me to declare myself of the first mate's opinion, and affirm, that the preternatural colour of the skin was owing to an inflammation occasioned by a contusion, common in all such cases, without any indication of an approaching

would put himself under our direction, we would do our endeavour to bring his distemper to a favourable issue, to which, at present, we saw no obstruction. I signified my concurrence; and Rattlin was so overjoyed, that, shaking us both by the hands, he swore no body else should touch him, and, if he died, his blood should be upon his own head. Mr Mackshane, flattering himself with the prospect of our miscarriage, went away, and left us to manage it as we should think proper; accordingly, having sawed off part of the splinter that stuck through the skin, we reduced the fracture, dressed the wound, applied the eighteen-tailed bandage, and put the leg in a box, secundum artem. Every thing succeeded according to our wish, and we had the satisfaction of not only preserving the poor fellow's leg, but likewise of rendering the doctor contemptible among the ship's company, who had all their eyes on us during the course of his cure, which was completed in six weeks.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Mackshane's malice-I am taken up and imprisoned for a spy-Morgan meets with the same fate-Thomson is tampered with to turn evidence against us-disdains the proposal, and is maltreated for his integrity-Morgan is released to assist the surgeon during an engagement with some French ships of war—I remain fettered on the poop, exposed to the enemy's shot, and grow delirious with fearam comforted after the battle by Morgan, who speaks freely of the captain-is overheard by the sentinel, who informs against him, and again imprisoned-Thomson grows desperate, and, notwithstanding