hand) on board. His son Napoleon Bonaparte, (who was first mate, steward
and half the starboard watch) would throw him a rope, and the old fellow
would climb on board as the little craft sailed by, without an
alteration in her course.

Major Ben. Ficklin was attacked with yellow fever just after we left
Nassau; but as we had no medicines on board he recovered. The medical
fraternity might perhaps take a hint from the treatment of his case.
Small lumps of ice were kept in a saucer beside him as he lay on a
mattress under a deck awning, and by the constant use of it he allayed
the raging thirst attending high fever. The "vis medicatrix naturae"
accomplished the rest.

Having no books on board, we beguiled the time occasionally by telling
stories as we lay under the shelter of the deck awning. One of my
contributions was the following: Many officers of the navy will remember
it, and there are some who, like myself, will recollect the solemn
earnestness with which the hero of it would narrate the facts, for he
firmly believed it to the day of his death. At the time of its
occurrence he was enjoying a day's shooting at his home in Vermont.
Becoming tired toward midday he took a seat on an old log in the woods.
A few minutes afterwards, he saw an old bareheaded man, meanly clad,
approaching, who seated himself in silence at the other end of the log.
The head of the stranger was bound with a white cloth and his eyes were
fixed with a glassy stare upon Major B., who felt his blood run cold at
the singular apparition. At last the Major mustered up courage to ask
the stranger what he wanted. The spectre replied "I am a dead man, and
was buried in the graveyard yonder" (pointing as he spoke to a
dilapidated enclosure a few yards distant). "The dogs," he continued,
"have found their way into my shallow grave, and are gnawing my flesh. I
can not rest until I am laid deeper in the ground." The Major used to
assert that his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth; but he managed to
promise the dead man that his wishes should be complied with, when the
apparition dissolved into the air. The Major went straight to some of
the neighbors, and when he accompanied them to the grave, it was found
in the condition described by its occupant. N. B. The Major was in the
habit of carrying a "pocket pistol," which may have been overcharged
upon this occasion; he _also_ belonged to the _marines_.

We arrived at Cardenas after a week's voyage, and