luck, Blagrove," Wilkinson said when
they had started. "I thought, perhaps, that he might make you a present,
for you have seen him every day, and besides interpreting, have carried
orders to his officers under a heavy fire, and done all sorts of
things, but except that I landed several times to take part in the
sorties, and was lucky enough to be on shore at that fight at the breach
and when the French got in, I did no active work. I had no hopes of
getting anything beyond perhaps a mention in the chief's despatches."

"I feel quite ashamed at having so much more valuable a present,
Wilkinson."

"Oh! I am sure that no one could begrudge it to you," Wilkinson replied.
"You don't get any special pay for being an interpreter, and it gives
you a tremendous lot of work; besides, going about as you do with Sir
Sidney, you were constantly under fire. Besides, the pasha saw a great
deal more of you than he did of anyone else, except the chief himself. I
congratulate you upon it heartily; if you ever want to turn it into
money it will be quite a small fortune. Luckily my father is in a
position to make me a good allowance, so I have no intention of ever
parting with this ring, it will be a remembrance of the siege, and the
sort of thing to wear on grand occasions."

They found that during their absence the men had worked hard, and that,
except for a final scrub, the brig was now ship-shape and in good order.
At four o'clock in the morning the crew were again on deck It was still
dark, but the men set to with a will to scrub the decks, for, as they
said, if they passed near the _Tigre_ they should not like the decks to
look like those of a trader in ballast. An hour's hard work and they had
finished, just as the look-out reported that the _Tigre's_ men were
going aloft to loosen sails. It was light now, and in a very few minutes
the canvas was spread and the anchor catted. The _Tigre_, with her great
sail spread, was not yet under way, and the brig, as she laid her course
west, passed a hundred yards under her stern. The _Tigress_ ran up her
ensign, for the sun was just showing, and dipped it in salute. The
midshipmen waved their hands to their comrades on board, and saluted
more formally Sir Sidney, who stood at the bulwarks watching the craft
as she passed, and who returned the salute with a cheery shout of "Well
done, _Tigress_!"

Then she went on her course, after the exchange of a cheer between the
crews clustered by t