er
and left the muddy Portuguese and his comrades far behind them.

Towards evening the party were once more safe and sound on board the
_Red Eric_, where they found everything repaired, and the ship in a fit
state to proceed to sea immediately.

His Majesty King Bumble was introduced to the steward, then to the cook,
and then to the caboose. Master Jacko was introduced to the ship's crew
and to his quarters, which consisted of a small box filled with straw,
and was lashed near the foot of the mizzen-mast. These introductions
having been made, the men who had accompanied their commander on his
late excursion into the interior, went forward and regaled their
messmates for hours with anecdotes of their travels in the wilds of
Africa.

It is well-known, and generally acknowledged, that all sublunary things,
pleasant as well as unpleasant, must come to an end. In the course of
two days more the sojourn of the crew of the _Red Eric_ on the coast of
Africa came to a termination. Having taken in supplies of fresh
provisions, the anchor was weighed, and the ship stood out to sea with
the first of the ebb tide. It was near sunset when the sails were
hoisted and filled by a gentle land breeze, and the captain had just
promised Ailie that he would show her blue water again by breakfast-time
next morning, when a slight tremor passed through the vessel's hull,
causing the captain to shout, with a degree of vigour that startled
everyone on board, "All hands ahoy! lower away the boats, Mr Millons,
we're hard and fast aground on a mud-bank!"

The boats were lowered away with all speed, and the sails dewed up
instantly, but the _Red Eric_ remained as immovable as the bank on which
she had run aground; there was, therefore, no recourse but to wait
patiently for the rising tide to float her off again. Fortunately the
bank was soft and the wind light, else it might have gone ill with the
good ship.

There is scarcely any conceivable condition so favourable to quiet
confidential conversation and story-telling as the one in which the men
of the whale-ship now found themselves. The night was calm and dark,
but beautiful, for a host of stars sparkled in the sable sky, and
twinkled up from the depths of the dark ocean. The land breeze had
fallen, and there was scarcely any sound to break the surrounding
stillness except the lipping water as it kissed the black hull of the
ship. A dim, scarce perceptible light rendered every objec