away to attend to some little
matter connected with the progress of the work. A quarter of an hour
later he reappeared on deck, clean-shaven, and looking very handsome and
seamanlike in his best suit of uniform; and, the gig being piped away,
he went down over the side, giving me a parting nod as he did so. I
watched the boat dash up alongside the brig; noted that the side was
manned in due form, that our worthy "first" was received by a group of
officers on the quarter-deck, conspicuous among whom I could make out
with the aid of my glass Monsieur Le Breton, evidently performing the
ceremony of introduction; and then the work being finished, ropes coiled
down, and everything once more restored to its proper place, the hands
were piped to tea, and I descended to the midshipmen's den, thoroughly
tired out with my unwonted exertion.

When I again went on deck, about an hour later, the stars were shining
brilliantly; the moon, about three days old, was gleaming with a soft
subdued radiance through the topmost branches of the trees on the
adjacent shore; and the night-mist was already gathering so thickly on
the bosom of the river that the brig loomed through it vague, shadowy,
and indistinct as a phantom craft. The tide was ebbing, and her stern
was turned toward us, but no lights appeared gleaming through her cabin
windows, which struck me as being a little strange until I remembered
that Monsieur Le Breton had spoken of her captain being ill. A few of
our lads were amusing themselves on the forecastle, dancing to the
enlivening strains of the cook's fiddle, or singing songs; and an
occasional round of applause or an answering song came floating down
upon the gentle night-breeze from the brig; but as the fog grew thicker
these sounds gradually ceased, we lost sight of her altogether, and so
far as sound or sight was concerned we might have been the only craft in
the entire river. Our own lads also quieted down; and finally the only
sounds which broke the solemn stillness of the night were the sighing of
the breeze, the gentle rustle of the foliage, and the loud sonorous
_chirr, chirr, chirr_ of the insects.

It was about half-past nine o'clock, and I was just thinking of going
below to turn-in when I became conscious of the sounds of a commotion of
some sort; a muffled cry, which seemed to me like a call for "help;" a
dull thud, as of a falling body, and _a splash_! The sounds certainly
proceeded from the directio