I am in your
ship, eh? That's strange; I can't imagine--but, there, I shall not
worry myself any more about the matter; you'll look after me, I know;
you're a thorough good fellow, Leicester, and I'm almost sorry now that
I--that I--um! what _was_ it, now? Well, I dare say I shall remember it
further on. I say, old fellow, what time is it? Nearly dinner-time, I
should think, for I feel most confoundedly hungry."

"It _is_ nearly dinner-time," answered George, delighted to find so
great an improvement in the man he had vowed to protect and restore.
"If you can hold out for another half-hour, I think I may promise you a
decent meal by that time. Will that do?"

"Yes, oh, yes, I dare say I can manage to survive until then," murmured
Walford.

Whereupon the skipper hurried away and took counsel with the steward;
the result of which was that in little more than the stipulated
half-hour Walford was served with the best meal which the _Aurora's_
resources could furnish.

From that time he grew steadily better, and in another day or two he was
able to leave his cot and to indulge in a bath, a clean shave, and an
hour or so on deck, half-sitting, half-reclining in a hammock which the
skipper had ordered to be slung for him from the spanker-boom. He
suffered from extreme bodily weakness, doubtless the result of his
frenzied exertions on board the ill-fated _Princess Royal_; but that
was, of course, an evil which rest and nourishing food would speedily
remedy. But he did not recover the use of his reasoning faculties for
some time after the period now referred to, and then the recovery was
only partial.

As for Captain Leicester, he was in high spirits; the breeze lasted
fresh for four full days after his encounter with the pirate schooner,
so fresh indeed that once or twice he was obliged to furl his royals, in
order to save the sticks; and the barque, no longer compelled to
moderate her pace to that of the slowest sailer in a large fleet,
maintained a steady speed of twelve knots during the whole of that time,
thus fully making up, in the skipper's opinion, for the time and ground
lost during the gale, and encouraging him to look forward hopefully to
the accomplishment of a quick passage.

But such a state of things was too good to last. On the fifth day the
wind fell light, and on the sixth it failed them altogether, leaving the
_Aurora_ helpless in the "doldrums," she being at that time about a
thousand miles