When I left her, I promised to return to her in less than a
twelvemonth. I took all my money with me, save enough to support my
wife in my absence, for the purpose of trading when in China, on my
own account. For a long time we were favored with prosperous winds;
but when in the China seas a terrible storm came upon us, so that in
a short time I saw the vessel must be lost, for we were drifting on
the rocks of an unknown shore. I ordered the men to provide each for
himself in the best possible manner, and forget the ship, as it was
an impossibility to save her. We struck: a sea laid me upon the
rocks senseless; and the next would have carried me back to a watery
grave, had not one of the sailors dragged me further up the rocks.
There were only four of us alive; and when morning came, we found
that we were on a small uninhabited island, with nothing to eat but
the wild fruit common to that portion of the earth; and there we
remained sixty days before we could make ourselves known to any
ship. We were at length taken to Canton; and there I had to beg, for
my money was at the bottom of the sea, and I had not taken the
precaution to have it insured. It was nearly a year before I had an
opportunity of coming home; and then I, _a captain_, was obliged to
ship as a common sailor. It was two years from the time I left
America that I landed in Boston. I was walking in a hurried manner
up one of its streets, when I met my brother-in-law.
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