home.

Your uncle has been my friend ever since. He obtained his promotion on
our arrival in England, and was at once appointed to the command of the
_Ariel_, corvette, in which I accompanied him to the West Indies, where
we were actively engaged, and I had there the opportunity I had so much
wished for of performing two or three acts which gained me credit. I
was still more anxious than ever to make a name for myself, as since the
loss of my protector, Jack Headland, I had no possible clue by which to
discover my parents with the exception of the gold chain, which I wore
round my neck, and which I still preserved. A small bundle containing a
child's clothes and shoes, and the figure of an Indian tumbler, which
were found in Jack's kit, I felt sure had belonged to me. Whether or
not they are sufficient to identify me I am very doubtful. Not wishing
to throw a chance away I deposited them for safety with my agents in
London.

Such was Headland's history, and Harry assured him at its close that he
always knew he must be a gentleman by birth, as he was in every other
possible way.

"I heartily wish," he said, "that you may some day find out to whom you
belong. Whoever they are you may depend on it they will welcome you
joyfully. Why there goes eight bells. Our watch has indeed passed
quickly away."

The two midshipmen were relieved and went below. They had scarcely, as
they supposed, closed their eyes, when the boatswain's rough voice and
shrill pipe roused them up with a cry of "All hands on deck!" followed
by the quick roll of the drum, the well known beat to quarters.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

HOME, WITH PROMOTION.

As Harry and his friend reached the deck they caught sight of a strange
frigate standing towards the _Triton_, which was, as has already been
said, off the port of Carthagena, and as they looked towards the land
they observed a small vessel under all sail running in for it. That the
stranger was an enemy there was no doubt, and as she was evidently as
heavy a frigate as the Triton, there appeared, even should she be
captured, with the Spanish squadron close at hand, little prospect of
her being brought off. There was indeed a great chance that the
_Triton_ herself would not escape should she be crippled.

"The odds are against us," observed the captain to his first lieutenant.
"We must not, however, show our heels to a single frigate, and will do
our best to take her before the enemy can c