med
for a far-distant land. I was a boy, however; and this, I think, is
equivalent to saying that I did not sorrow long. My future companion
and fellow-clerk, Mr Wiseacre, was pacing the deck near me. This
turned my thoughts into another channel, and set me speculating upon his
probable temper, qualities, and age; whether or not he was strong enough
to thrash me, and if we were likely to be good friends. The captain,
too, was chatting and laughing with the doctor as carelessly as if he
had not the great responsibility of taking a huge ship across a
boundless waste of waters, and through fields and islands of ice, to a
distant country some three thousand miles to the north-west of England.
Thus encouraged, my spirits began to rise, and when the cry arose on
deck that the steamer containing the committee of the Honourable Hudson
Bay Company was in sight, I sprang up the companion-ladder in a state of
mind, if not happy, at least as nearly so as under the circumstances
could be expected.

Upon gaining the deck, I beheld a small steamboat passing close under
our stern, filled with a number of elderly-looking gentlemen, who eyed
us with a very critical expression of countenance. I had a pretty good
guess who these gentlemen were; but had I been entirely ignorant, I
should soon have been enlightened by the remark of a sailor, who
whispered to his comrade, "I say, Bill, them's the great guns!"

I suppose the fact of their being so had a sympathetic effect upon the
guns of the Company's three ships--the _Prince Rupert, Prince Albert_,
and _Prince of Wales_--for they all three fired a salute of blank
cartridge at the steamer as she passed them in succession. The steamer
then ranged alongside of us, and the elderly gentlemen came on board and
shook hands with the captain and officers, smiling blandly as they
observed the neat, trim appearance of the three fine vessels, which,
with everything in readiness for setting sail on the following morning,
strained at their cables, as if anxious to commence their struggle with
the waves.

It is a custom of the directors of the Hudson Bay Company to give a
public dinner annually to the officers of their ships upon the eve of
their departure from Gravesend. Accordingly, one of the gentlemen of
the committee, before leaving the vessel, invited the captain and
officers to attend; and, to my astonishment and delight, also _begged
me_ to honour them with my company. I accepted the inv