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CHAPTER II

would sail soon, his kind mother provided a number of articles, which she thought he would need at sea. After different things were attended to, however, preparatory to his departure, to the surprise of all his friends, he suddenly gave up the voyage, — This singular step, some no doubt will imagine, proceeded from timidity; but it does not appear, from his own account of it, that he had beforehand apprehended any danger, or anticipated aught but pleasure, and a restoration of his health. He could assign no reason for it, save that he had lost all desire to go: — he accordingly let his friend sail without him.

When the voyage was nearly completed, two of the crew made an attempt one night to seize the vessel; and, in the prosecution of their diabolical design, all on board, except a little boy, perished by their hands. After perpetrating the horrible deed, they gave themselves up to intoxication, and in this state, while in sight of the Island of St. Thomas, it so happened, providentially for their speedy detection, they ordered the boy to row them ashore. He did so; and then, as soon as out of their power, informed against them. A vigorous search was instantly made for the wretches. One fled to St. Eustatia, but was there seized and broken upon the wheel. The other, whose name was

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CHAPTER II

Anderson, was taken in St. Thomas's sent back for trial to New York, and here executed "upon an Island in the Bay, near the city, which, from that circumstance, has ever since been called, Anderson's, or Gibbet Island."

Had Mr. L. accompanied his friend, in adherence to his first determination, speaking after the manner of men, he would never have returned; — and it will readily be supposed, that upon hearing of the melancholy event, he was much affected with the thought of his own wonderful deliverance from a tragical death. He saw, in the preservation he had experienced, the protecting hand of a good God: — he knew that the Almighty had compassed him with favour as with a shield, and wrought that change in his inclination, which was the means of saving his life: — he therefore blessed the Lord, who had thus seasonably interposed to redeem his life from destruction. — It is a circumstance not altogether unworthy of notice perhaps, that the Great Being, who determines the bounds of our habitation, so ordered the place of his residence afterwards, that, for a great many years, "Anderson's, or Gibbet Island," was frequently before his eyes as a memento of the singular mercy; — and never to the day of his death, did he forget it, or relate it to his friends, without connecting with the






        
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