Sure enough it was true; notwithstanding he was a planter
of some property, he made the smallest things turn to profit, and
would charge vessels going up the river twelve and a half cents per
bottle for milk.
The captain had spent a restless night, and found himself blotched
with innumerable chinch-bites; and on examining the berths and
lockers, he found them swarming in piles. Calling one of the black
men, he commenced overhauling them, and drew out a perfect
storehouse of rubbish, which must have been deposited there, without
molestation, from the day the vessel was launched up to the present
time, as varied in its kinds as the stock of a Jew-shop, and rotten
with age. About nine o'clock they got under weigh again, and
proceeding about twenty miles with a fair wind and tide, they came
to another point in the river, on which a concourse of men had
assembled, armed to the teeth with guns, rifles, and knives. As he
passed up, they were holding parley with a man and boy in a canoe a
few rods from the shore. At every few minutes they would point their
rifles at him, and with threatening gestures, swear vengeance
against him if he attempted to land. The captain, being excited by
the precarious situation of the man and his boy, and anxious to
ascertain the particulars, let go his anchor and "came to" a few
lengths above.
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