give you my grog for a week only to let me fling
the—— stuff over the side. (Whack, whack,
whack.) Oh, good, kind, dear Mr. Tickell,
do go down to the captain for me." (Whack,
whack.)

"Avast!" cried the captain, reappearing;
and the uplifted rope fell harmless.

"Silence, fore and aft!"

("Pipe!")

"The cook has received a light punishment this
time, for spoiling the men's mess. My crew
shall eat nothing I can't eat myself. My care is
heavier than theirs is; but not my work, nor my
danger in time of danger. Mind that, or you'll
find I can be as severe as any master afloat.
Purser!"

"Sir!"

"Double the men's grog! they have been
cheated of their meal."

"Ay, ay, sir!"

"And stop the cook's and his mate's for a
week."

"Ay, ay, sir!"

"Bosen, pipe down!"

"Shipmates, listen to me," said the foretop-man.
"This old Agra is a d— d com-for-table
ship."

The oracular sentence was hailed with a ringing
cheer. Still it is unlucky the British seaman
is so enamoured of theological terms; for he
constantly misapplies them.

After lying a week like a dead log on the calm
but heaving waters, came a few light puffs in the
upper air and inflated the topsails only: the
ship crawled southward, the crew whistling for
wind.

At last, one afternoon, it began to rain, and
after the rain came a gale from the eastward.
The watchful skipper saw it purple the water to
windward, and ordered the topsails to be reefed
and the lee ports closed. This last order seemed
an excess of precaution; but Dodd was not yet
thoroughly acquainted with his ship's qualities:
and the hard cash round his neck made him
cautious. The lee ports were closed, all but one,
and that was lowered. Mr. Grey was working a
problem in his cabin, and wanted a little light
and a little air, so he just drooped his port; but,
not to deviate from the spirit of his captain's
instructions, he fastened a tackle to it; that he
might have mechanical force to close it with
should the ship lie over.

Down came the gale with a whoo, and made
all crack. The ship lay over pretty much, and
the sea poured in at Mr. Grey's port. He
applied his purchase to close it. But though his
tackle gave him the force of a dozen hands, he
might as well have tried to move a mountain:
on the contrary, the tremendous sea rushed in
and burst the port wide open. Grey, after a vain
struggle with its might, shrieked for help; down
tumbled the nearest hands, and hauled on the
tackle in vain. Destruction was rushing on the
ship, and on them first. But meantime the
captain, with a shrewd guess at the general
nature of the danger he could not see, had roared
out, " Slack the main sheet!" The ship righted,
and the port came flying to, and terror-stricken
men breathed hard, up to their waists in water
and floating boxes. Grey barred the unlucky
port, and went aft, drenched in body and wretched
in mind, to report his own fault. He found the
captain looking grim as death. He told him,
almost crying, what he had done, and how he
had miscalculated the power of the water.

Dodd looked and saw his distress. "Let it be
a lesson, sir," said he, sternly. "How many
ships have been lost by this in fair weather, and
not a man saved to tell how the craft was fooled
away?"

"Captain, bid me fling myself over the side,
and I'll do it."

"Humph! I'm afraid I can't afford to lose a
good officer for a fault he— will— never— repeat."

It blew hard all night and till twelve the next
day. The Agra showed her weak point: she
rolled abominably. A dirty night came on. At
eight bells Mr. Grey, touched by Dodd's
clemency, and brimful of zeal, reported a light
in Mrs. Beresford's cabin. It had been put out
as usual by the master-at-arms; but the
refractory one had relighted it.

"Go and take it away," said Dodd.

Soon screams were heard from the cabin. " Oh,
mercy! mercy! I will not be drowned in the
dark."

Dodd, who had kept clear of her so long, went
down and tried to reassure her.

"Oh, the tempest! the tempest!" she cried.
"AND TO BE DROWNED IN THE DARK!"

"Tempest? It is blowing half a gale of wind;
that is all."

"Half a gale! Ah, that is the way you always
talk to us ladies. 0, pray give me my light, and
send me a clergyman!"

Dodd took pity, and let her have her light,
with a midshipman to watch it. He even made
her a hypocritical promise that, should there be
one grain of danger, he would lie to; but said he
must not make a foul wind of a fair one for a few
lee lurches. The Agra broke plenty of glass and
crockery though with her fair wind and her lee
lurches.

Wind down at noon next day, and a dead
calm.

At two p.m. the weather cleared; the sun came
out high in heaven's centre; and a balmy breeze
from the west.

At six twenty-five, the grand orb set calm and
red, and the sea was gorgeous with miles and
miles of great ruby dimples: it was the first
glowing smile of southern latitude. The night
stole on so soft, so clear, so balmy, all were loth
to close their eyes on it: the passengers lingered
long on deck, watching the Great Bear dip, and
the Southern Cross rise, and over head a whole
heaven of glorious stars most of us have never
seen, and never shall see in this world. No
belching smoke obscured, no plunging paddles
deafened; all was musical; the soft air sighing