“We sailed round Cape St. Vincent, off the coast of Portugal, and then crossed the Bay of Biscay, O! and passed Land’s Eend—up St. George’s Channel, and through the Irish Sea, and, on the eighteenth day, dropped anchor in the harbor of Liverpool.
“The captain calculated to stay in Liverpool till spring, for ’twas now November, and trade a good deal, and bring home a heavy cargo of English goods; but for sartin reasons, I’ll tell soon, we didn’t do it. While we lay in Liverpool, there was some great _doin’s_, I tell ye. The English troops, to the amount of some thousands, marched out under Lord Wellington, for foreign sarvice on the continent, and soon arter this Wellington went to fightin’ in Spain. Well, they marched out under superior officers, and in the middle of the troops was Wellington’s carriage, drawn by six milk-white horses, splendidly caparisoned, and he was in it, and three or four other big lords; and, on each side of the carriage was six officers, on jet black horses, with drawn swords, and they made some noise tu; and I shall remember, to my dyin’ day, how Wellington looked.
“But we hadn’t been there long afore the captain comes down one night from the city, aboard ship, and calls out to all the crew, and, says he, ‘boys there’s agoin’ to be war betwixt Great Britain and America, and all that wants to clear port to-night, and spread our sails for New York, say home!’ and we did say home, _in arnest_, and we made all preparation, and ’bout midnight we weighed anchor, and towed ourselves out as still as we could, and I never worked so hard while I was _free_ as I did that night, and by daylight we spread all our sails for home, and in four hours we was out of sight of Liverpool. Arter breakfast we all give three cheers, and all hands says, ‘now we are bound for home, sweet home!’
“Well, we had been out ’bout four days, and we fell in with Commodore Somebody’s ship, that pioneered a fleet of merchantmen for London; they hailed us, and we answered the signal and passed on, and they let us go by peaceable, without a word of war or peace, on either side; and glad ’nough we was to pass ’em so, and we spread all our sails for America, and felt thankful for every breeze that helped us forward.