ys on
board, and proved to be the possessor of a remarkably keen pair of eyes.

When, in obedience to the captain's orders, he was greasing the mast, his
attention was caught by three or four specks on the horizon.

"Sail ho!" he called to the officer of the watch.

"Where away?" was the reply.

"On the larboard quarter, sir; three or four sail, I think."

The officer at once mounted the shrouds and took a long look at the
specks Desmond pointed out, while the crew below crowded to the bulwarks
and eagerly strained their eyes in the same direction.

"What do you make of 'em, Mr. Sunman?" asked the captain.

"Three or four sail, sir, sure enough. They are hull down; there's not a
doubt but they're bringing the wind with 'em."

"Hurray!" shouted the men, overjoyed at the prospect of moving at last.

In a couple of hours the strangers had become distinctly visible, and the
first faint puffs of the approaching breeze caused the sails to flap
lazily against the yards. Then the canvas filled out, and at last, after
nearly a fortnight's delay, the Good Intent began to slip through the
water at three or four knots.

The wind freshened during the night, and next morning the Good Intent was
bowling along under single-reefed topsails. The ships sighted the night
before had disappeared, to the evident relief of Captain Barker. Whether
they were Company's vessels or privateers he had no wish to come to close
quarters with them.

After breakfast, when the watch on deck were busy about the rigging or
the guns, or the hundred and one details of a sailor's work, the rest of
the crew had the interval till dinner pretty much to themselves. Some
slept, some reeled out yarns to their messmates, others mended their
clothes.

It happened one day that Desmond, sitting in the forecastle among the men
of his mess, was occupied in darning a pair of breeches for Parmiter. It
was the one thing he could not do satisfactorily; and one of the men,
after quizzically observing his well meant but ludicrous attempts, at
last caught up the garment and held it aloft, calling his mates'
attention to it with a shout of laughter.

Parmiter chanced to be coming along at the moment. Hearing the laugh, and
seeing the pitiable object of it, he flew into a rage, sprang at Desmond,
and knocked him down.

"What do you mean, you clumsy young lubber, you," he cried, "by treating
my smalls like that? I'll brain you, sure as my name's Parmiter!"

Des