One of these lads, whom we shall call Mr. A, had first to fight with Mr. B, while Mr. C was second to Mr. B; and then Mr. A, having disposed of Mr. B, either by putting him out of the world, or by adjusting the matter by apologies, was to commence a fresh battle with Mr. C, who, it will be observed, had been second to his former antagonist, Mr. B! The contingency of Mr. A himself being put hors de combat appears not to have been contemplated; but the strong personal interest which Mr. C (the second to Mr. A’s first antagonist) had in giving the affair a fatal turn, would have been the ticklish point for our poor necks, in a court of justice, had Mr. A fallen. Poor fellow! he was afterwards killed in action. More by good luck than good management, neither of the first shots took effect. At this stage of the affair, I began to perceive the excessive absurdity of the whole transaction, and the danger of the gallows, to which we were all exposing ourselves. I therefore vehemently urged upon the parties the propriety of staying further proceedings. These suggestions were fortunately strengthened by the arrival of a corporal’s guard of armed marines from the ship, under the orders of an officer, who was directed to arrest the whole party. There was at first a ludicrous shew of actual resistance to this detachment; but, after some words, the affair terminated, and the disputants walked off the field arm in arm, the best friends in the world! CHAPTER VIII. MAST-HEADING A YOUNG GENTLEMAN. On the 8th of January, 1804, we sailed from Halifax, and, after a long and tedious passage, arrived at Bermuda. The transition from the intense frost of a Nova Scotian winter, during which the mercury was generally below zero, to a temperature of 70° or 80°, was exceedingly agreeable to those who had constitutions to stand the sudden rise of more than half a hundred degrees of the thermometer. After a few days’ stay at Bermuda, we set off for the United States, where we were again frozen, almost as much as we had been at Halifax. The first land we made was that of Virginia; but owing to calms, and light foul winds, we failed in getting to Norfolk in the Chesapeak, and therefore bore up for New York, which we reached on the 19th of February, and there anchored about seven miles from that beautiful city.