Chapter XVII

The new custom house at Havana--Singular story of the building--Mr. H. M. ignores the action of the house in Texas--He prevails on me to make another trip--Great excitement in blockade running--Steamers _versus_ sailing vessels--Their respective merits compared--Havana and its institutions--Officials--Pensioners--Poor--Criminals-- Lotteries--Captain Flagg and the Bilateria--Jim Hyland turns up--His wife desires to bepresent when he is paid off--Loaded for another voyage.

As soon as we passed the Moro and entered Havana harbour, there was the usual rush of boats crowding round the vessel; but as we had been here before, we knew better how to deal with that class, and kept them at bay.

Having got anchored, I went ashore and called upon Messrs. A., my former consignees, and reported the vessel and cargo consigned to them.

On going with them to get the vessel entered at the custom house, I found that that department had been transferred to a different place from where it had been last time we had been to Havana, and on going to the place, there was some pleasant remarks about our being one of the first entries at the "new custom house."

Though called the new custom house, it was by no means a new building, but a very old building, which covered a large space fronting on the harbour, in the finest and best business part of the town, which had for many years been closely shut up, and all access to it denied. The only accounts I had had about it were from sailors, who, on my inquiries why such a valuable part of the city should be thus darkly walled up, said that it was in there that the dragon, that old sarpent, was bound up.

The more correct account which I now got about it was this.

Some three hundred years ago, when Spain held dominion over the greater part of the New World, and the city of Havana was rising up as a central station and key to these possessions, a magnificent cathedral was erected, fronting the sea, inside of the beautiful bay which now forms the harbour, and just about the centre of the front of the walled city. This cathedral was said to be the finest in the New World, and was held in great veneration.

When the Moro Castle and the other defences of Havana were taken by the British, after a gallant resistance in 1762, the British landed a force at Havana, a part of which was cavalry, and without any regard for the sacredness of the edifice, they used the cathedral as a stable for their horses. When Havana was restored to Spain by the treaty of peace, signed at Paris in 1763, this cathedral, in consequence of the sacrilegious use to which it had been put by the British, was declared to be defiled and desecrated, and entrance to it strictly forbidden, and it was condemned to be closely shut up in darkness for a period of one hundred years. The hundred years had now expired, and the building had been opened, but never again to be used as a place of worship, and it was being converted into a custom house and other secular purposes.

It was amazing to see the good state of preservation the building was in; the walls had been most substantially built, and still seemed as good as when first erected, while the timber, which was of mahogany and other fine hard wood of the country, was sound as the day it was put in.

Having got the vessel entered, and got a permission to discharge, a lighter was alongside the same night, and the cotton discharged into it. The vessel was reported as usual at the British Consulate, and the register and crew list deposited.

The crew having been paid off at Tampico, and having reshipped for the run to Havana, they had now to be paid for that run, under the supervision of the consul at Havana. They were paid off on the following day, but one name on the list remained unsigned, and the man not accounted for. This was the man Jim Hyland, who had been left behind in Texas, sick with yellow fever.

Having now got everything connected with the voyage completed, I went to Mr. R. M. and reported the voyage successfully completed, handed him certificate of the delivery of his half of the cargo of cotton to Messrs. G. of Tampico, and laid before him an account of the disbursements.

I then recalled to him his agreement with me, that the cargo he would put on board would be more than sufficient to purchase a cargo of cotton, and asked if he still adhered to it.

He said he still adhered to it, and why did I ask.

I showed him the letter of Messrs. R. and D. G. M. in Texas, and that we should now settle up and dissolve partnership.

He appeared to be amazed, said he had no advices from the house in Texas; but there was evidently some mistake; but I must pay no attention to that, it was him that I had to deal with and not the house in Texas. He had heard of our arrival in Tampico, and had another cargo all prepared and ready; and as this was now the most favourable time of the year, good winds, dark weather, and short daylight, I should not lose a moment, but start upon another trip which I might accomplish in a few weeks.

The agreement with me for the voyage just finished he allowed was just as I had said: when he made a bargain he held to it. The agreement for the voyage he now proposed would be the same continued, bearing in mind that, as the half of the vessel now belonged to him, that I must pay for half of the cargo to be sent to Texas.

I acknowledged that the half of the vessel now belonged to him, but I wished to dissolve the partnership, and I wished he would say what he would give me for my half of the vessel or take for his half. I would give him until to-morrow to say whether he would buy or sell. I was quite aware that it was a favourable time of the year to make a voyage, and I was ready and wishful to start on one; but I most emphatically refused to go on another voyage consigned to the house of R. and D. G. M. So saying I took my leave, saying that I would call to-morrow and hear what he had to say.

On the following day I called and asked if he had made up his mind. He said if I was determined to dissolve the partnership, he would pay me a premium of fifty dollars to say what I would give or take for half of the vessel. I replied by saying that I would pay him one hundred dollars to say what he would give or take.

He then assumed another tone, and entered upon a long discourse in which he used a large quantity of that seductive thing, flattery.

He began by saying that by taking the position we had done we would never come to any settlement, that the vessel would lie idle, and means be wasted; and that surely it would be great foolishness if a vessel so valuable as the _Rob Roy_ for the present crisis, and a man possessing such qualifications to manage her as myself, should lie idle at this most advantageous season of the year, when everything was in favour of making a quick and successful voyage.

He could say nothing about the disposal of the last cargo taken into Texas until he got advices and statements of the transactions, but he would stand by the agreement he had made with me. He would now make a proposal, and he would advise me to consider it. He would show me invoices of a cargo which he had all ready, and which consisted of goods which, he had been informed by Mr. Helm, were especially wanted in Texas, and if I approved of the goods and the prices I should pay him half of the amount of the cargo, and then we would go equal shares in the voyage, and as I declined to consign to the house of R. and D. G. M., we could arrange to consign to some other firm.

This proposal did not seem to me to be much out of the way, and I said I would consider it if he would agree to consign to Mr. H. in Galveston, as I said it would save the great trouble and loss of time in taking the vessel up to Houston.

He did not seem to wish to consign to Mr. H., with whom he was not very friendly, although I did not at the time know for what cause. We, however, at length agreed to consign to a Mr. C. in Galveston.

I then looked over the invoices of the cargo he proposed to send, and though I did not know much of what the prices should be, I agreed to it. Remembering my promise to the Texas farmers, I requested that about thirty or forty barrels of seed potatoes should be included. To this he agreed. He also said that Mr. Helm would also wish to send some goods, which I said I would be willing to take free of freight.

He asked how soon would I be ready to sail, and if the vessel wanted any repairs. I said she must be put on the ways, have her bottom cleaned and painted, and some other slight repairs; she must also have a new foresail, and I would be ready to sail in about two weeks, which would be about the beginning of December. This being arranged, I proceeded to get the vessel docked and fitted out ready for another trip.

Blockade running was now being carried on with great spirit; cotton had gone up to a very high price. All the Atlantic ports of the Confederate States, having either been captured or closely invested, the trade was now changed to the Gulf States, with Havana as a base, and a great many steamers which had formerly run from Nassau, New Providence, into Charleston, Savannah, Wilmington, and other ports on the Atlantic coast, had come to Havana, and as Mobile was now in possession of the Federals, their attention was turned to Galveston, which was now the chief available port for blockade-running enterprise.

Most of those steamers were swift paddle boats of light draught of water, mostly built on the Clyde, and purchased for this trade on account of their high speed; but there was now some difference of opinion as to whether they were more safe and profitable than schooners.

Their original cost was high so that there was always a large amount of capital at risk.

They consumed a large amount of coal, and as this article was not to be had within the Confederate States, they had to take in sufficient coal at Havana for the round trip, and as coal was dear at Havana, this added greatly to the expense of the voyage. Their carrying capacity was small, and this was still more hampered by the large amount of coal they had to carry, and when loaded down with coal and cargo their speed was greatly impaired.

The number of hands they had to carry in the capacity of engineers and stokers made their disbursements high in the way of wages and bonuses.

They could make the trip in a short time, and were not, like sailing vessels, subject to detention from contrary or light winds or calms, but they could be observed at a long distance on account of their smoke; and their speed was generally impeded by their being deep loaded; while the Federal Government was now getting faster cruisers on the stations, and if they were sighted and chased they were often captured, or escaped only by throwing their cargo overboard.

The only classes of vessels which engaged in this traffic were steamers, and light-draught schooners, the former depending entirely on their speed, the latter depending upon their strategy by dodging the cruisers and keeping out of sight. Some confided in the one, and some confided in the other.

Mr. R. M. confided in schooners, and tried to become shareholder in as many as he could, and he generally contrived to become shareholder on pretty easy terms, the owners and masters of these vessels being generally a poorer class of adventurers, who often required some backing, and were generally men more capable of contending with the seas and enemies than holding their own with shrewd and sometimes not over scrupulous men of business.

Having now arranged for another trip, I set about getting the necessary repairs done; but as everything in Havana moved slow and sure, some time was necessary.

While the repairs were being done, I had an opportunity of observing something of the city and its institutions and general government, which were confirmed by subsequent sojourns. What seemed to me most worthy of note was their appointment of officials, their mode of dealing with their criminals, with their pensioners, and with their poor, also their modes of collecting revenue.

All officials from the Captain-General to the common policeman were natives of Spain; no appointments of any kind were given to natives of the island. This caused great dissatisfaction among the Creoles, and was the principal cause of the rebellion which broke out in 1869. But I have often thought that most of the smaller offices were not worth fighting about, as they were very poorly paid, and bribery was expected, and corruption common, particularly in the customs department.

Their mode of dealing with criminals was by making them work in a chain gang, in classes of more or less severity, according to the nature of the criminal. The streets of the city were swept, and all sanitary labour done during the night by those gangs, and much of the Government work, including the making and maintaining of roads.

Pensioners got petty offices about the customs and other departments. Those of the navy got licenses to act as boatmen in the harbour, their scale of charges were strictly laid down, and no others were allowed to ply for hire.

The most helpless of the poor were allowed to beg one day in the week, which was Saturday. They had their own particular stations allotted to them, generally on the steps of church doors, or corners of the streets or squares, and there they must appear clean in their persons, keep in their places, be respectful to passers-by, and never importune, and certain it was that, by maintaining a respectful demeanour, they did not beg in vain.

One old woman, whom I passed occasionally, throwing her my mite, told me that she had held that station for eleven years, and during that time her average receipts amounted to about six dollars each Saturday, and since the blockade running had commenced, it had gone up to double that sum. She had, she said, a great regard for blockade runners, they had been very kind to her, and she prayed for their success.

Another class of more able-bodied poor got licenses to act as Bilaterias, that is, to sell lottery tickets. This was one of the methods adopted by the Government of raising revenue.

Cuba is said to be the richest jewel in the crown of Spain, and it is certainly a high contributor to her exchequer. The export and import duties are very high, and these being extensive, the revenue to the Spanish Government is very great. But what attracts most the attention of a stranger is the method of raising revenue by means of a lottery.

The Havana lottery is well known over a large part of the world, and is perhaps the most important and best-regulated lottery in existence. It is entirely under the control and management of the Government, and is conducted on a perfectly upright and honest principle. The Government, however, like many other agencies, deduct a very large commission for their trouble.

The system is--or was at that time--for the Government to issue tickets to the amount of 500,000 dollars. These tickets each bore a number, and were in the form of coupons, and could be divided into sixteen parts, each part having the number upon it. The price of a full ticket was an ounce of gold, which was in Cuba valued at seventeen dollars. But as the ticket could be divided into sixteen parts, a sixteenth part of a ticket was sold for one dollar and twelve and a half cents.

They awarded prizes, which to the best of my recollection were, one prize of 100,000 dollars; one prize of 50,000 dollars; five prizes of 20,000 dollars; ten prizes of 5,000 dollars; and twenty-five of 2,000 dollars; amounting in all to 350,000 dollars. It will, therefore, be seen that the Government had, on each drawing, a profit of 150,000 dollars less expenses. This went towards the revenue. The drawings were monthly. The Government themselves became the holders of all tickets or parts of tickets not sold, and of course acquired what prizes fell to them. This, however, seldom happened, as the tickets were generally all sold some time before the day of drawing, and the tickets out and selling for the following month, and it often happened during the time of blockade running that special drawings had to be made to meet the demands.

This lottery was very popular in Havana, and to have discontinued it would have caused great dissatisfaction. The poorest families would take their sixteenth of a ticket, attaching great importance to some particular number. Others, according to their means and station in life, took eighths, fourths, or halves of tickets, each portion of a ticket entitling the holder to that proportion of the prize. Many of the wealthy merchants took regularly every month a full ticket, the lottery having a page in their ledger. On the debit side entered cash paid for tickets, and on the credit side prizes drawn; some few having a balance on the right side, but many more having balances on the wrong side. It was, however, a way of paying their taxes, and the chances of a prize afforded a little pleasing excitement, while the poorer classes regarded it as their just taxation, and they always had before them a hope that some day they might rise to affluence. Certain lands and properties were looked out to be bought, certain businesses were to be commenced, old homes in Spain were to be visited, and many other objects to be attained "when I draw in the lottery;" and of course every month, the fame spread around of a stroke of fortune to some one.

It was also the means of providing employment for a large portion of their deserving poor as Bilaterias or ticket sellers, as already referred to. These Bilaterias must be known to be really poor, deserving, and well behaved. When they get the appointment they are provided with a brass plate, inscribed Bilaterias No -----, this was their license. They were restricted to a certain beat--a street, or part of a street or square--where they must appear perfectly clean and well dressed, and their brass-plate on their breast shining like a mirror; they may cry out their numbers, but always be respectful and civil, and never importune. A great many were employed in this way at Havana, and other places in the island.

I may here say that what has led me into this description of the Havana lottery and the Bilaterias was a little incident, which, by a freak of fortune, happened with one of them and a friend of mine, and as it is not unlike some of the pretty stories which we read in novels, I may relate the incident just as it happened.

During the time I had been in Texas on the last trip, I made the acquaintance of a young man named Flagg. He was a native of Texas, and previous to the war had been a seaman, and had got as high as mate, and had been mostly employed in cotton-carrying ships from New Orleans and Galveston to Liverpool, Havre, and other ports in Europe.

When the war broke out this occupation was gone, and he had got a detail into the Confederate States Navy, at the port of Galveston; but as this was rather too inactive a life for him, he applied for permission to engage in the more active calling of blockade running, and got a detail into what was called the "Mercantile Marine" service; and, willing to accept anything to give him a start, he had taken command of Captain McLusky's old vessel, and succeeded in running her out with a load of cotton, and got safe into Tampico, where he had arrived about two days after we had sailed for Havana. This being all that was desired of that craft, he came up by mail steamer to Havana with letters from owners to take command of some vessel there.

Being a stranger in Havana, and learning that the _Rob Roy_ had arrived, he sought her out and came on board. As I by this time had got a little acquainted in Havana, and knew something of the language, I agreed to aid him a little in the object he wished to obtain.

Captain Flagg, or Bill Flagg as he was familiarly called, was a man of some culture, although he had a good deal of the manner of the better class of seamen of the old school, a little rollicking, but by no means a drunkard, a little quick of temper, but possessing much of that open generosity and kindheartedness common in sailors. I went with him to see the parties he wished to call upon, but he did not get his business arranged so satisfactorily as he expected. Several parties were to be connected in the adventure, and it was the old story, each one desirous to get the profits without running much risk, and he was bandied about from one to another for some time before they could come to any arrangement, and he was beginning to lose his patience.

We had been calling on one of these parties, expecting the business to be finally arranged, but to his disappointment it was not so, and he must still get some document signed by some other party; and he was hastening away in very bad humour, when just at the door he was met by one of those Bilaterias shouting some lucky number, and holding out his tickets for sale.

"Out of the way, confound you," cried Bill, giving the man a push and brushing past him.

The poor old man said nothing, but looked exceedingly hurt, while Bill went straight to the office of the person he was t see, and, finding him, got the matter arranged at last.

Bill's fit of bad temper had now passed off, and, as we came out to the street, I said, in a half-joking way, "Bill, that was rather too bad of you to rudely push that poor old Bilateria, These are decent old people, and exceedingly poor, and make but a small pittance. I saw he felt much hurt, yet he never uttered a word. I think you should go back and apologise to him."

"Oh, well," said he, "he came in my way when I was in a hurry, but I am sorry for it; and, if you like, I will go and apologise to the poor devil, and give him half a dollar."

"I think," said I, "you might please him better by explaining the matter, and buying a ticket from him."

"All right, let us go and see him."

Bill, the kindest soul imaginable, would have bought a whole ticket, but I told him that a sixteenth, or at most an eighth, would be sufficient.

We went to the old man's beat, which was on "Calle Mercaderes," and found him. I tried to explain, in a mixture of English and Spanish, how my friend was in a hurry at the time, and a little irritated, and he now wished to apologise for his rudeness, and would also buy a ticket.

The old man was exceedingly gratified, took off his hat, with many "gracias," talked of the generosity of Americanos, which I explained to Bill with some little additions, and it ended in Bill buying a half ticket, or rather two quarters, of different numbers, the old man assuring him that he would be certain to draw a prize, as he would put a benediction on the numbers. Bill put the tickets in his pocket-book, and soon forgot all about the matter.

A few days afterwards, I was sitting with Bill and one or two others in the "Café Dominica," when a Bilateria entered selling papers containing a list of the winning numbers of the lottery which had been drawn that day. Lists were being eagerly bought, and as eagerly scanned over with many looks of disappointment, when Bill happened to recollect that he had two tickets, and, in a joking way, called the man over to him, and bought one of the lists, just by way of amusement, to see how far he had been from a winning number. He looked over the list, and then, suddenly starting up, pulled out his pocket-book and took out his tickets, and there sure enough, opposite the number of one of his tickets, was a prize of 2,000 dollars. Bill would scarcely believe it for some time, but was assured by some of the bystanders that it was quite correct he was a winner; his was a quarter ticket, and he would be entitled to 500 dollars.

"But I suppose," said he, "it will cost me more trouble to get the money than it is all worth."

"Not at all," was the reply. "That ticket is as good as a bank-note. Go and see Mr. Dominica, the owner of the café."

Mr. Dominica, who spoke English, looked at the ticket and then at the list, and said he would cash it for a dollar.

"Done," said Bill; and, as quick, Dominica took the ticket and paid him 499 dollars.

Bill was quite elated, and insisted on treating every one in the café, which he did. I saw that he was very soon going to have plenty of friends, and, from his kind and genial disposition, the money would soon go. I said to him, in a jocular way, that I thought he ought to remember the poor Bilateria, who had been the cause of him getting the money.

"I be hanged if I don't," said he. "Where is the poor devil?" And we went straight to the old man's beat.

Bill, in the happiest mood, heartily shook hands with the old man, and handed him two ounces of gold, at which the old man, somewhat astonished and overwhelmed with gratitude, bowed almost to the ground, and, after making many "gracias," said, as near as I could make out, "that he sometimes from his own countrymen got a dollar when a ticket which he had sold to them drew a prize, but it took an Americano to be really generous." However that might be, perhaps those two ounces were spent in as good a way as any other part of Bill's prize, as, like much of the money which was passing hands at that time, it came quick and was soon gone.

I had now got my vessel off the ways, and she lay at the wharf, at the Regles on the opposite side of the harbour, getting her cargo on board.

Two steamers had arrived from Galveston with cargoes of cotton, but a third, which had left about the same time, had been captured.

I had got my old crew shipped again with the exception of two--one Fred, the Swede, who acted as cook and steward, who had carefully saved up his wages and bonuses, and now shipped on a vessel for Sweden, his native country, where he intended to retire from sea and open a restaurant; the other, who had only been with me one trip, on being paid off invested largely in lottery tickets, and was fortunate--or perhaps I might say unfortunate--in drawing a prize of considerable amount, with which he purchased a share in a blockade-running schooner, and sailed in her for Texas, and was captured when three days out, and he lost everything.

While we were lying at the wharf, I had observed a woman, apparently an Irish woman, hanging about the wharf, as if she was keeping an eye on the vessel, and sometimes talking with the men. This was nothing unusual, but I noticed that every time I crossed over to the city, she got on to the ferry-boat and followed me, although she seemed to try to avoid my notice. After crossing, she generally took her station near the British Consulate, which was close to the ferry landing, and waited there until I returned, when she invariably got on to the ferry-boat and followed me back, and again took her station on the wharf near the vessel. I began to notice this, and wondered if she was some sort of spy, and determined to know what she meant. I observed at times some of my men talking with her, and then talking and laughing among themselves, as if anticipating some amusement. On seeing this, I asked the mate what was the meaning of it, who the woman was, and what was her object in acting as she did. He said this was the wife of Jim Hyland, the man we had left behind in Texas. He had come over upon one of the steamers, and having been employed stowing the cargo and on the run over, he had been paid off, and had gone upon a spree and spent the money, and had given nothing to his wife; and as some balance was due to him on the _Rob Roy_, he was now watching an opportunity to come and get that; but his wife was determined to intercept him, and be present when he was paid, with a view of getting at least a part of the money before he would spend all of it in drink. As she knew that I must pay him either on board the vessel or at the office of the Consul, this was the reason why she kept watch over the vessel, and when I crossed to the city went and kept watch at the Consul's office, while he was hovering in the background trying to get an opportunity of coming to me to get his pay unknown to his wife. But she was too cute for him, and closely blockaded the vessel when I was on the Regles side of the harbour, and the Consulate when I went over to the city. They had been playing this cat-and-mouse game for some days, to the great amusement of my crew, who expected to see a fine shindy when the payment was made, for she had sworn that she would have some of the money if she should tear every stitch of clothes off his back to get it.

I was much astonished to find that what I had considered such a quiet, hard-working man, and such an excellent stevedore, should have been so lost to himself, and wondering whether there might not be a pair of them, I asked what kind of woman she was. The mate said, that so far as he knew, she was a sober, hard-working woman. They had left New Orleans on account of the war, and came to live at Havana, where she supported herself and her children by doing washing for seamen; but she got but little help from her husband, who spent the most of his money in drink.

I told him to ask the woman to come on board. When she came on board, I told her of the great impropriety of loitering upon the wharf opposite the vessel, and following me as I passed back and forward to the city upon the ferry-boat, and asked what she meant by it.

She begged a thousand pardons, and entered upon a long story of her grievances, of her hard struggle to maintain herself and the "childers," and how her husband could make so much money, but would never give her a "blissed cent," but spend it all in drink; and the only money she had ever got from him since they had come to Havana, was when he got his advance when he sailed on this vessel now six months bygone, "and shure," said she, "I would never have fingered that, barring that I was standing by when your honour gave it to him here on this blissed deck."

I said I feared that I could not help her much, as I was compelled to pay the money to him, and get him to sign off on the crew list, but I would give her an opportunity of being present when I paid him, which would be either on board the vessel or at the Consul's office, but I did not want to have any disturbance at either place. I said there was not a great deal due to him, and, counting up the balance due, I found it to be 22 dollars. I told her, however, that I had intended to pay him a gratuity, for the great use he had been to me in stowing the cargo in Texas. This I was not bound to pay him, but as I had entered in the disbursements 17 dollars for this, I might pay that to her, as it was not on the articles. "But," said I, "what would be the use of paying it to you; he would just take it from you."

"You put the money in my hands, sor," said she, "and the sorro a grip he will get of it."

I told her to come on board with him on the afternoon of the following day. In the meantime I would see the Consul on the matter.

On the following morning I saw the Consul, and told him the man had turned up, and asked what I should do. He gave me the old crew list, and told me to pay the man on board, and get him to sign off, and then bring back the crew list to him, and that was all he had to do with the matter.

On the following day the woman came on board, but Jim did not come with her. He had got surrounded by a crowd of advisers in the shape of land-sharks and sea-lawyers, which had come to Havana to prey upon the seamen engaged in blockade running. They were quietly advising and explaining to him where he ought to be paid according to the laws of the port and the British articles, and also the amount he ought to receive, and they were ready, when he received it, to assist him in spending it. The rules of the port, however, were strict in regard to these gentry, and they had to keep quiet.

I sent the mate to tell Jim that I had got the crew list and instructions from the Consul, and the crew list must be closed as the vessel was about to sail, and that if he did not put in an appearance I should pay the money to his wife as his nearest of kin.

This threat, overdrawn as it was, had the desired effect. Jim came on board, a perfect wreck, but making great efforts to appear sober and look business-like, very different in appearance and manner from the man we had left in Texas, so that the crew began to laugh and jeer him, and ask who he was, and told him that they feared he would have to bring some one to identify him, as the captain would be sure to take him for some impostor, and not the Jim Hyland whom we had left behind in Texas.

He came up with an air of importance, and handed me a large document, made up in a very formal way by some of his sea-lawyer friends, showing the amount due to him according to the "British articles."

I threw it aside, and produced the statement made at the Consulate; and, calling the mate for witness, I took the money in my hand, and gave him a pen, and told him to sign the crew list. He refused, and began to lay down the law.

"Oh, very well," said I to the mate. "Call in that woman there; she will soon take the money and sign."

"Oh, no, no," cried he, "I will sign it; it is all right." And he immediately became Jim Hyland again.

He signed the crew list with a somewhat shaky hand, and I told the mate to witness it. The mate in the meantime, bent on having some amusement, had taken me at my word, and called the woman from the wharf to come on board, which she did very quickly. The sight of his wife had a great effect upon Jim, and I saw that he felt very uneasy at her presence.

I then took him to task about the way he had been treating his wife, and said that I trusted he would now act right towards her, and give her at least an ounce (17 dollars), which she required to pay her rent, and, holding out the ounce gold-piece in my hand, I said, "Will I give her this?"

"No," said he, "you must pay it to me, and I will give it to her myself."

Of course I had to do this, but I must confess that I laid the way to give the woman a chance, and have a little fun over the matter. So I put the ounce piece in my pocket, and, calling the mate to witness, I counted out, on the roof of the cabin, the 22 dollars in quarter-ounce pieces and silver.

Jim, half blind with drink and his hand shaky, began to carefully count the money, examining every gold piece, and sounding it to see if it was good, when his wife, watching her chance, made a sudden grab, and, snatching up two of the gold pieces, made for the gangway.

One of the men, out of mischief, I suppose, barred the gangway, and the woman ran forward. Jim, leaving the rest of the money on the deck, made after her, uttering wild imprecations, and calling upon her to give him his money; but she dodged round the fore-hatch with a defiant air, and, having got the money in her hand, she did not seem to be much afraid of her lord and master.

I watched the position of the two, and seeing the woman nearest to where the money was lying, I cried out, "Come, none of your shindies on board of this vessel. Here, take up this money, and get ashore out of this."

"And, faith, I will soon do that," she said. And, dashing aft, she nimbly picked up some more of the money, while Jim, scrambling with her, only succeeded in getting a dollar or two of the silver.

The men seemed to enjoy the fun greatly. They had been looking forward to something of the kind when Jim came to get his wages.

Some of Jim's pot-house friends were standing on the wharf waiting for a share of the prey, and were exasperated at seeing their booty thus lost, but they dared not make any demonstration. They knew too well the harbour police, and that they would make short work with them.

Jim now accused me of giving his wife an opportunity of taking his money, and said that I had done it on purpose. I said I had done it on purpose, and added that he ought to be ashamed of himself. He then reminded me of the gratuity I had promised him for stowing the vessel. I allowed I had promised him something; but that was not in the articles, and the Consul had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, as I had charged it in the disbursements I would pay it, but not to him, but to his wife.

I then called the woman up, and asked her if she could sign her name. She said she could. I then wrote out a receipt for 17 dollars, and made her sign it, and I handed her the money, saying, "Now take care that he don't take it from you."

"Him!" said she--"the divil a fear of that!" as she ran ashore, and was soon out of sight.

Jim looked exceedingly sheepish, and his pot-house friends very much disappointed.

The cargo was now on board. It consisted mostly of heavy goods, and the vessel was deeper laden than last trip, it being now sought to send heavy goods by schooners, the steamers being too much loaded down with their own coal to take much heavy cargo.

I had about twenty-five tons of bar iron, an article greatly wanted in Texas, a large assortment of ironmongery, and several crates of earthenware, besides a quantity of general goods such as stationery, tea, coffee, and other groceries, and about forty barrels of potatoes for seed. For the Confederate Government I had about thirty bales of army blankets, tent cloth, and army clothing. It was said that one or two kegs of powder were packed in the heart of each bale, but that was not stated in the bills of lading, and I made no inquiries, and did not examine. There was also a lot of furnace bars for the transport steamers.