"
"Lord!--masser Mile--" cried the negro, pointing eagerly towards the
schooner--"there go Pretty Poll."
It was our old craft sure enough, and I hailed her, incontinently.
"Pretty Polly, ahoy!"
"Halloo!"
"Where are you bound, sir; and when did that schooner get in from the
Pacific?"
"We are bound to Martinique--The Poll got home from the South Seas
about six months since. This is her third voyage to the West Indies,
since."
Here then was the certainty that the cargo sent home, and the letter
with it, were all safe. I must be expected, and the owners would soon
hear of my arrival. We were not kept long in doubt; for, as the ship
entered the Hudson, a boat approached, and in her were two of the
principal members of our firm. I had seen them, and that is all; but
my own letters, and the report of the officer who brought home the
schooner, had told them all about me. Could Nelson, after his victory
of the Nile, have walked into the King of England's private cabinet
with the news of his own success, his reception would not have been
more flattering than that I now received. I was "Captain
Wallingforded" at every sentence; and commendations were so intermixed
with inquiries about the value of the cargo, that I did not know which
to answer first. I was invited to dine the very next day by both the
gentlemen in the same breath; and when I raised some objections
connected with the duty of the ship, the invitations were extended
from day to day, for a week.
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