countrymen to
perseverance and daring deeds--whether it was that, or whether it arose
from a sterner power of endurance, certain it is that Colin kept his
seat longer than either of his predecessors.

But even Scotch sinews could not hold out against such a tension, such a
bursting and wrenching and tossing, and it ended by Colin declaring that
upon the whole he would prefer making the journey upon "Shanks's mare."

Saying this he slid down from the shoulders of the ungainly animal,
resigning the creature once more to the conduct of Old Bill, who had
still kept hold of the halter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

The experience of his young companions might have deterred the sailor
from imitating their example; more especially as Bill, according to his
own statement, had never been "aboard" a saddle in his life. But they
did not, and for special reasons. Awkward as the old salt might feel in
a saddle, he felt not less awkward afoot. That is ashore--on terra
firma.

Place him on the deck of a ship, or in the rigging of one, and no man in
all England's navy could have been more secure as to his footing, or
more difficult to dispossess of it; but set Sailor Bill upon shore, and
expect him to go ahead, you would be disappointed; you might as well
expect a fish to make progress on land; and you would witness a species
of locomotion more resembling that of a manatee or a seal than of a
human biped. As the old man-o'-war's-man had now been floundering for a
mile through the soft shore-sand, he was thoroughly convinced that any
mode of progression must be preferable to that; and as soon as the young
Scotchman descended from his seat he climbed into it. He had not much
climbing to do, for the well-trained maherry, when any one wished to
mount him, at once knelt down, making the ascent to his "summits" as
easy as possible.

Just as the sailor had got firmly into the saddle, the moon shone out
with a brilliance that almost rivalled the light of day. In the midst
of that desert landscape, against the ground of snow-white sand, the
figures of both camel and rider were piquantly conspicuous; and although
the one was figuratively a ship, and the other really a sailor, their
juxtaposition offered a contrast of the queerest kind. So ludicrous did
it seem that the three "mids", disregarding all ideas of danger, broke
forth with one accord into a strain of loud and continuous laughter.

They had all seen camels, o