g one, and a queer one--too long and too
queer to be spun just now, so it must wait; but you will all be glad to
know that we are bound for the port that you hail from; so, please God,
it will not be long before you see your sweethearts and wives once more.
This, Mr Troubridge, is Mr Thomson, chief mate of the schooner
_Seamew_, blazing out yonder; and the rest are the remainder of her
crew, whose names I have not yet had time to learn."

"Welcome aboard the _Mercury_, Mr Thomson, and men of the _Seamew_!"
said I. "I am heartily glad that, since it was your lot to meet with
misfortune, we happened to be near enough at hand to pick you up. But
what of your captain; where is he?"

"I am sorry to say, Mr Troubridge," answered Thomson, "that Captain
Peters and Mr Girdlestone, our second mate, were both struck dead by
the flash of lightning that set the schooner afire; and we were obliged
to leave 'em aboard to burn with her, since we had no time to do
anything else. The _Seamew_ was Cap'n Peters' own property; and we were
out after sandalwood, of which the schooner was more'n half-full when
this misfortune happened to her. We fought the flames as long as we
could, in the hope of savin' her; but we never had a chance from the
very first, for she was old, and as dry as the inside of a tinder-box,
and she burned like a pine splinter. We hung on to her so long that we
had to leave all our belongings aboard her, comin' away with just what
we stood up in, and we cut it so fine that if we'd delayed another
minute we'd all be in Davy's locker now."

"Ay," said I, "there is very little doubt of that, I think. However, a
miss is as good as a mile, they say, and you are all here, except your
unfortunate captain and second mate, so you must make yourselves as
comfortable as you can until we arrive in Sydney. I am afraid I shall
have to ask you to work your passages, for we are very short-handed, as
you will have seen; but no doubt when we arrive--"

"Oh, that's all right, sir!" cut in Thomson; "of course we'll work our
passages, and glad of the chance to do so. It's a lucky thing for us
that you were near enough to pick us up."

So the matter was arranged, Gurney and Thomson each heading a watch of
six men, while the cook and the steward of the _Seamew_ respectively
took charge of the _Mercury's_ galley and pantry, and Saunders promptly
escaped from the cabin to the more congenial atmosphere of the
forecastle, where he ent