owever, he came to the
liquid, tossing off the contents of a bottle, he made a woefully wry
face and exclaimed,--

"Billy, my boy, we must have a full cask of this on deck--a chap must
drink a bucket or two before he finds out he has taken anything. It's
vinegar and water, to my mind."

Grey and I took a few glasses of the wine. It did not taste so bad,
especially in that hot weather, but we fancied that there was but little
strength in it. As the men required refreshment, we did not object to
their taking as much as they fancied. Persuaded by Bambrick, Billy went
below, and soon sang out that he had found a cask of the same stuff as
that in the bottles. A whip was sent below. A cask was hoisted on
deck, and found to contain what was undoubtedly claret. When the old
colonel saw it he shrieked out something about "monsieur le gouverneur."

"Well, Mounzeer Governor! here's to your health, then," said Bambrick,
draining off a mugful of the claret, which had been quickly tapped.
"This is better tipple than the other. Here, old boy, you shall have a
glass, to see if we can't put a smile into that ugly mug of yours."

The old soldier seemed not at all to object to the wine which Ned poured
down his throat, and he smacked his lips as if he would like some more.
Fortunately Grey and I now tasted the claret, and though we were no
great judges of wine, we knew enough to ascertain that it was remarkably
fine and strong; and moreover we discovered, by the way Ned and Billy
and the rest began to talk, that they had had enough, if not too much of
it already.

"It was unwise of us to let them have any at all," observed Grey. "How
we shall keep them from it I do not know; and if they get drunk, as they
certainly will if they have much more, the chances are the Frenchmen
will take the vessel from us."

"We must knock the head in," I answered. "It is our only security. I
know from experience, that if seamen can by any means get hold of
liquor, they will do so at all risks, and that they are in no way
particular what it is."

"It will be better to serve it out to the prisoners," said Grey. "If we
appeal to these men's kind feelings they will do it, and if there is
more than enough we must leave the spile out."

Bambrick and Billy, and the other men, were perfectly ready to do as we
proposed. When the old colonel saw what we were doing he again shrieked
out about the Governor, but this did not prevent the men from ser