the matter?" I exclaimed, shaking the handle of the
window. "Let me in, aunt, please; I'm not a thief or a ghost, on my
word." My aunt, more courageous than the little girl, had risen from
her seat, and my voice assuring her of my identity, she opened the door,
and I very soon convinced her and Alice that I was a living being by
kissing them both, and then devouring every scrap of supper she set
before me. I found that, from Hanks' report, they had been led to
believe that the Frenchmen had knocked me on the head; and were mourning
for me accordingly. My aunt was, I verily believe, employed in making a
black gown to put on for my sake. My uncle had sailed again to look
after the lugger, so that I was able to enjoy the height of a
midshipman's felicity, a holiday on shore. Three days afterwards the
_Serpent_ came back, having re-captured the lugger and two hundred tubs.
I saw Captain Didot, who was very angry at finding that I had escaped,
and vowed he would pay me off in a different coin, if he ever caught me
again. I told him he might, if he ever did.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

HANKS AND MY GHOST--HANKS' LEARNING--MYERS AGAIN--ESCAPES ONCE MORE--
APPOINTED TO A FRIGATE--PREPARE FOR SEA--MY SHIPMATES--SAIL FROM
ENGLAND--MESSRS. TRUNDLE AND CHISSEL--DICKY SHARPE AND A TALE OF A
BEEF-BONE.

On reaching Portsmouth, I took a boat and pulled off to the cutter,
which was lying out in the middle of the harbour. Hanks was walking the
deck as I came alongside, but something having attracted his attention
in the direction of Gosport, he did not observe me. Handing the boatman
a shilling, I jumped on board unnoticed, and just as Hanks turned round,
I stood before him, with my hand out ready to grasp his. For an instant
the colour forsook his cheeks, and he stared at me without speaking,
rolling his eyes round as if he saw my wraith.

"Why, Hanks, old fellow! don't you know me?" I exclaimed, bursting into
a loud laugh at his extraordinary way of receiving me. My voice
convinced him that it was not my ghost which was offering to shake hands
with him.

"What, D'Arcy, my boy! is it you, indeed, come back to us after all?" he
cried, seizing both my hands in his own well-hardened paws. "I'm glad
to see you, that I am, lad; we thought those scoundrel smugglers had
done for you. It would have been just like them, to kill the smallest
of the lot. But how did you escape? Come, tell us all about it. We've
had another brush