castle. Battles had been fought, a large French fleet was
in the Pacific, &c., and one of the boat's crew of
the Ayacucho said that, when they left Callao, a large
French frigate and the American frigate Brandywine
which were lying there, were going outside to have a bat,
tle, and that the English frigate Blonde was to be umpire,
and see fair play. Here was important news for us.
Alone, on an unprotected coast, without an American
man-of-war within some thousands of miles, and the
prospect of a voyage home through the whole length
of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans! A French prison
seemed a much more probable place of destination than
the good port of Boston. However, we were too salt to
believe every yarn that comes into the forecastle, and
waited to hear the truth of the matter from higher au-
thority. By means of the supercargo's clerk I got the
amount of the matter, which was, that the governments
had had a difficulty about the payment of a debt; that
war had been threatened and prepared for, but not actu-
ally declared, although it was pretty generally anticipated.
This was not quite so bad, yet was no small cause of anxi-
ety. But we cared very little about the matter ourselves.
"Happy go lucky" with Jack! We did not believe
that a French prison would be much worse than "hide
droghing" on the coast of California; and no one who
has not been a long, dull voyage, shut up in one ship, can
conceive of the effect of monotony upon one's thoughts and
wishes. The prospect of a change is a green spot in the
desert, and the probability of great events and exciting
scenes creates a feeling of delight, and sets life in mo-
tion, so as to give a pleasure which any one not in the
same state would be unable to explain. In fact, a more
jovial night we had not passed in the forecastle for
months. All seemed in unaccountably high spirits. An

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