was obscured they were pretty well parboiled. Do all
they could, also, they could not keep the cabin clear of cockroaches and
numberless other creeping things. A meal was anything but an easy or
pleasant operation. The only chance of not having half a dozen live
creatures sticking to each mouthful was to keep not only the dishes but
the plates covered up. Disagreeable as it was, Murray and Adair could
not help laughing at each other as at every mouthful they had to pop in
their forks under the covers, which were instantly clapped down again,
and what was brought out thoroughly examined before it was committed to
the mouth, while, as Adair remarked, the soup was more properly "beetle
broth" than anything else. The schooner rejoiced in the name of the
_Venus_, though, as the midshipmen agreed, she was the very ugliest
Venus they had ever seen. She had, besides tobacco, a quantity of
monkey-skins on board.

They were sitting at dinner one day, for the sun was too hot to keep on
deck, and they had no awning.

"I say, Murray, is there not a somewhat disagreeable odour coming out
from forward?" observed Adair, sniffing about. "Tobaccoish, I find it."

"Rather," answered Murray, laughing. "I have perceived it for some
days. It is enough to cure the most determined smoker of his love for
the precious weed. It is from the tobacco we have on board. After
being thoroughly wetted it has now taken to heating. However, we may
hope for the best, at present it is bearable."

A bright idea struck them soon after this. They might turn the
monkey-skins to advantage. They had needles and a good supply of twine,
so they set to work and neatly sewed them together till they had
manufactured an awning sufficiently large to cover a good part of the
deck. They could now take their meals and sleep occasionally, when the
weather was fair, in fresh air, which was a great luxury. At length
Wasser, who had the lookout one morning, shouted, "Land! land!--land on
the starboard bow!" Everybody in a moment jumped up. After
examination, Wasser declared his conviction that it was somewhere off
the Gold Coast, not far from Cape Coast Castle. Still Murray and Adair
agreed that it would be far better to stand on, because if they could
manage to weather Cape Palmas they might have a quick run to Sierra
Leone. The schooner was soon afterwards put about. No one complained,
though they might have cast a wistful eye at the harbour they wer