The perils which he had to endure at first, when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him least; he longed for death, and often contemplated flinging himself into those cold deep waves which he gazed on daily over the vessel's side.

Hope was the only thing which supported him.

He had heard from one of the crew that the vessel would be back in not more than six weeks, and he made a deeply seated resolve to escape the very first day that they again anchored in an English harbor.
The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on board greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and disgusting work which fell to his snare, as well as made the atmosphere of the close little schooner twice as poisonous as before.

And to add to his miseries, his relations with the crew got more and more unfavorable, and began to reach their climax.
One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard him winding up his watch.

This he always did in the dark, as secretly and silently as he could, and never looked at it, except when no one could observe him; while, during the day, he kept both watch and chain concealed in his trousers.
Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch, and tried by every species of threat and promise to extort it from him.