about noon
Says I , `` You surprise me ; for the captain sent me on board to be his steward , and agreed with me about it this afternoon . '' -- `` Hush , '' says he , `` I see how it will go ; the captain , if that 's the case , will discharge him when he comes on board ; and indeed I believe he would not have kept him so long , but we have waited for a wind , and he could not provide himself . '' The captain came on board at night ; and the first thing he did was to demand the keys of Mr. Steward , which he gave to me , and ordered him on shore . The next morning the captain went on shore himself ; but the wind chopping about and standing fair about noon , he returned then with my chest , and before night we were got into sailing order , and before the wind with a brisk gale . What happened the first fourteen days of our passage I know not , having been all that time so sick and weak I could scarcely keep life and soul together ; but after grew better and better . We prosecuted our voyage , touching for about a week at the Madeiras in our way . The captain grew very fond of me , and never put me to hard duty , and I passed my time , under his favour , very pleasantly .