Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1Audubon, John James
History
Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1
Audubon, John James
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 -- Diaries; Birds -- North America; Naturalists -- United States -- Diaries
The next day I called on Mr. Kauman; he read Da Costa's letter,
smiled, and after a while told me he had nothing to give me, and
in plain terms said that instead of a letter of credit, Da
Costa--that rascal!--had written and advised him to have me
arrested and shipped to Canton. The blood rose to my temples,
and well it was that I had no weapon about me, for I feel even
now quite assured that his heart must have received the result
of my wrath. I left him half bewildered, half mad, and went to
Mrs. Palmer, and spoke to her of my purpose of returning at once
to Philadelphia and there certainly murdering Da Costa. Women
have great power over me at any time, and perhaps under all
circumstances. Mrs. Palmer quieted me, spoke religiously of the
cruel sin I thought of committing, and, at last, persuaded me to
relinquish the direful plan. I returned to Mr. Bakewell's
low-spirited and mournful, but said not a word about all that
had passed. The next morning my sad visage showed something was
wrong, and I at last gave vent to my outraged feelings.
Benjamin Bakewell was a _friend_ of his brother (may you ever be
so toward each other). He comforted me much, went with me to the
docks to seek a vessel bound to France, and offered me any sum
of money I might require to convey me to my father's house. My
passage was taken on board the brig "Hope," of New Bedford, and
I sailed in her, leaving Da Costa and Kauman in a most
exasperated state of mind. The fact is, these rascals intended
to cheat both me and my father. The brig was bound direct for
Nantes. We left the Hook under a very fair breeze, and proceeded
at a good rate till we reached the latitude of New Bedford, in
Massachusetts, when my captain came to me as if in despair, and
said he must run into port, as the vessel was so leaky as to
force him to have her unloaded and repaired before he proceeded
across the Atlantic. Now this was only a trick; my captain was
newly married, and was merely anxious to land at New Bedford to
spend a few days with his bride, and had actually caused several
holes to be bored below water-mark, which leaked enough to keep
the men at the pumps. We came to anchor close to the town of New
Bedford; the captain went on shore, entered a protest, the
vessel was unloaded, the apertures bunged up, and after a week,
which I spent in being rowed about the beautiful harbor, we
sailed for La Belle France. A few days after having lost sight
of land we were overtaken by a violent gale, coming fairly on
our quarter, and before it we scudded at an extraordinary rate,
and during the dark night had the misfortune to lose a fine
young sailor overboard. At one part of the sea we passed through
an immensity of dead fish floating on the surface of the water,
and, after nineteen days from New Bedford, we had entered the
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