I supposed they had forgotten me; but I did those gentlemen injustice.

I had hardly been a year in the island when I received a letter from Mr.Thomas, enclosing a bill in the handwriting of Bohun, of every article with which I had been furnished in St.George, not omitting my board at two dollars and a half a day, which Bohun so roundly swore should be reduced at least two thirds.

The sum total of the bill amounted to more than one hundred dollars, an enormous sum in my then straitened circumstances; and the letter contained an intimation that, having been a year in the island, and in regular employment, it was expected that I was able and willing to settle the accompanying bill! Although I entertained faint hopes of being able at some future day to reimburse Mr.Thomas for his expenses on my account, I never expected that he would make out this bill, including even the most trifling item, or hold me responsible for the unpardonable blunder of Bohun in relation to my board, and subject me to the mortification of a dun.

It appeared, however, that he considered all obligations, on his part, discharged, when an unenviable situation was procured for me on a plantation, where the chances were nine out of ten that I should find my grave within three months! I made a brief reply to this letter, in which I expressed my feelings without reserve; assured him he need not trouble himself further about his money; that if I lived he should receive the full amount, principal and interest, as soon as I could earn it.
This unexpected demand on my resources troubled me greatly.

It had the effect to postpone, almost indefinitely, the time when I should leave Grenada, and return to the occupation I preferred, that of a mariner.