You must not judge by your present
feelings, you know. Just now you are exhausted with loss of blood and
the pain of your wound, but I intend to carry on and get you ashore and
in hospital within the next three days, please God, and once you are out
of this close cabin, and in a nice airy ward, with proper nurses to look
after you, you will begin to pull round in a way that will astonish you.
You are in no danger, sir; Hamilton told me so, and I should think he
ought to know." It was useless to lie unless it were done boldly, and I
inwardly prayed that my pious fraud might be forgiven.

"Well, well, I hope so," the poor fellow gasped. "At all events I will
try to hold on until we arrive, and then perhaps I may get my step. If
I got that--"

"Get your step, sir?" I cut in again. "Of course you will get it! I
only wish I were half as certain of getting the ten thousand a year that
my uncle has promised to leave me when he dies. Get your step? Why,
sir, it is as good as in your pocket already."

"You think so?" asked he doubtfully. "I wish I could feel as sure of it
as you do, my boy--ay, I wish I could feel as sure of it as I am that
you will get your commission--for get it you shall, if anything I can
say will help you to it. And that reminds me, Grenvile, that I wish to
say how perfectly satisfied and highly pleased I have been with your
conduct and gallantry in this affair. You handled your schooner with
the very best of judgment, and indeed, but for you the fellow might have
slipped away from us altogether. I will take care to make that quite
clear to the commodore in my report to him."

I thanked him very heartily for his exceedingly kind intentions toward
me, and then we passed on to the discussion of certain other matters,
with the details of which I need not weary the reader; and when I left
him, an hour later, Hamilton assured me that his patient, although
exhausted with his long talk, was none the worse, but rather the better,
for my visit. "You have taken him out of himself, diverted his thoughts
into a more cheerful channel, and it has done him good. We must play up
that `step' business to the very last ounce," he concluded.

When I went on deck, upon leaving poor Fawcett, I was gratified to find
that the making good of damages aboard the brig was progressing apace,
and that Freeman would be ready to make sail about sunset, while aboard
the prize they were all ataunto again, with the damaged