he
_Theseus_, and as Wilkinson is senior midshipman, he will have her. I
shall appoint you his second in command. She carries eight guns, and has
room for two more, which I shall place on board from those on the walls.
Her own guns are fourteen-pounders, and with two eighteens she will be
heavily armed. Her complement was fifty-two men. I will give you forty
from the _Tigre_, and will draw fifteen from the _Theseus_, and five
from the _Alliance_. You will need a stronger crew with two extra guns;
besides, you may want to send landing-parties on shore, or to cut out
piratical craft, and ought therefore to be strong-handed."

"Thank you very much, sir. I shall be very glad to be employed on such
service."

"Please send Mr. Wilkinson to me, Mr. Blagrove. I have his instructions
written out for him."

"Sir Sidney Smith wants you, Wilkinson," Edgar said as he went into the
next house.

"What is up?"

"There is a report that you have been making love to a Turkish girl; you
will get it hot."

"Bosh!" Wilkinson said, laughing, as he put on his cap. "I have not
spoken to a feminine of any kind since we left England."

In a quarter of an hour he returned.

"Hurrah, Blagrove! this is glorious. I am all the more pleased that you
are going with me. How lucky Condor being promoted to the _Theseus_, or
of course he would have had it. Then Knight, being still unfit for duty
from the effects of the wounds he received in the sortie, and our first
lieutenant being new to the ship, the third lieutenant cannot be spared.
Sir Sidney spoke very kindly. He said that it was a heavy responsibility
for so young an officer, but that he trusted I should prove equal to it,
and that I must remember that prudence was just as necessary as courage
and dash. He gave me a good deal of advice, which I shall think over and
try to act on when I sober down a bit. Now we are both relieved from
other duty, so we will pack up our kit.

"Sir Sidney is going on board the _Tigre_ in five minutes, and he said
that we could go on board with him, and we had better do so, as there
was no time to be lost. Mason, one of the gunner's mates, is to go with
us. We are to have sixty blue-jackets and five marines for sentries, and
so on. He thinks that we can't do better than take the Turk who has been
cooking for him, and our cook here. They are both very good fellows. One
will be our steward and cook, and the other cook for the men. The
boatswain's mate and the p