“No; certainly not,” replied he.
“Well; I am in that position. If once in England, I have money enough to live upon, and plenty of friends; I therefore naturally want to get back to England, and not to run the risk of my neck on board of this vessel.”
“That’s very true,” replied he, “but there are other considerations; my men won’t have a man on board who will not swear fidelity, and if you will not, I cannot protect you,—they will throw you overboard. We don’t carry passengers.”
“That’s very true, also; and I will swear fidelity so far as this, that you never shall be betrayed by me, and I never will appear as a witness against one of you; it were most ungrateful if I did. While I am on board, I will do any duty you please to put me to, for I cannot expect to eat my bread for nothing.”
“And suppose we come to action?”
“There’s the difficulty,” replied I; “against an English ship I never will fight.”
“But if we are opposed to any other nation, and there is a chance of our being overpowered?”
“Why, then, if you are overpowered, as I shall be hung along with the rest, I think I must do all I can to save my own life; but, overpowered or not, I will not fire a shot or draw a cutlass against my own countrymen.”
“Well, I cannot deny but that’s all very fair.”
“I think,” replied I, “it is as much as you can expect; especially as I never will share any prize-money.”