r which I have always supposed, as he
was a sensible man, he had his orders. But this is neither here nor there,
seeing that the craft had got to the end of her rope, and foundered in a
heavy hurricane that came over us, mayhap a couple of days' run to leeward
of our haven. Well, she was a small boat; and, as she took it into her
mind to roll over on her side before she went to sleep, the master's mate
in charge, and three others, slid off her decks to the bottom of the sea,
as I have always had reason to believe, never having heard any thing to
the contrary. It was here that Guinea first served me the good turn; for,
though we had often before shared hunger and thirst together, this was
the first time he ever jumped overboard to keep me from taking in salt
water like a fish."

"He kept you from drowning with the rest?"

"I'll not say just that much, your Honour; for there is no knowing what
lucky accident might have done the same good turn for me. Howsomever,
seeing that I can swim no better nor worse than a double-headed shot, I
have always been willing to give the black credit for as much, though
little has ever been said between us on the subject; for no other reason,
as I can see, than that settling-day has not yet come. Well, we contrived
to get the boat afloat, and enough into it to keep soul and body together,
and made the best of our way for the land, seeing that the cruise was, to
all useful purposes, over in that smuggler. I needn't be particular in
telling this lady of the nature of boat-duty, as she has lately had some
experience in that way herself; but I can tell her this much: Had it not
been for that boat in which the black and myself spent the better part of
ten days, she would have fared but badly in her own navigation."

"Explain your meaning."

"My meaning is plain enough, your Honour, which is, that little else than
the handy way of master Harry in a boat could have kept the Bristol
trader's launch above water, the day we fell in with it."

"But in what manner was your own shipwreck connected with the safety of Mr
Wilder?" demanded the governess, unable any longer to await the dilatory
explanation of the prolix seaman.

"In a very plain and natural fashion, my Lady, as you will say yourself,
when you come to hear the pitiful part of my tale. Well, there were I and
Guinea, rowing about in the ocean, on short allowance of all things but
work, for two nights and a day, heading-in for the islands;