arm to look for Charlie,
and they told us he was sitting up in the ash-tree at the end of the
field. In my dream I did not feel at all surprised that Cripple Charlie
should have got into the ash-tree, or at finding him there high up among
the branches looking at a spider's web with a magnifying-glass. But I
thought that the wind was so high I could not make him hear, and the
leaves and boughs tossed so that I could barely see him; and when I
climbed up to him, the branch on which I sat swayed so deliciously that
I was quite content to rock myself and watch Charlie in silence, when
suddenly it cracked, and down I came with a hard bang on my back.

I woke and sat up, and found that the latter part of my dream had come
true, as a lump on the back of my head bore witness for some days.
Francis had playfully let me down "with a run by the head," as it is
called; that is, he had undone my hammock-cord and landed me on the
floor. He left Alister in peace, and I can only think of two reasons for
his selecting me for the joke. First that the common sailors took much
more readily to Alister from his being more of their own rank in birth
and upbringing, though so vastly superior by education. And secondly,
that I was the weaker of the two; for what I have seen of the world has
taught me that there are plenty of strong people who will not only let
the weaker go to the wall, but who find an odd satisfaction in shoving
and squeezing them there.

However, if I was young and sea-sick, I was not quite helpless, happily;
I refastened my hammock, and got into it again, and being pretty well
tired out by the day's work, I slept that sleep of the weary which knows
no dream.

CHAPTER V.

"Yet more! The billows and the depths have more:
High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast!
* * * * * * *
Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave!
Give back the true and brave!"--FELICIA HEMANS.

"To them their duty was clear, and they did it successfully; and
the history of the island is written briefly in that little
formula!"--_Daily Telegraph_, Dec. 5, 1878.

I did not feel as if I had been asleep five minutes, when I was rudely
awakened, of course by noise, whistling, and inarticulate roaring, and I
found that it was morning, and that the boatswain's mate was "turning
the hands up" to wash decks. Alister was ready, and