y. "There is undoubtedly something wrong or poor Austin
would have turned up on board before matters had reached this stage.
But, mind, let the work be carried on without an unnecessary sound of
any kind."

As Armitage again withdrew and Smellie rose to his feet, Captain Vernon
turned to me and said:

"I am very greatly obliged to you for the zeal and discretion you have
manifested in this most delicate matter, Hawkesley; whatever comes of it
I shall remember that you have acted throughout to the very best of your
ability, not coming to me precipitately with a vague unconnected story,
but waiting patiently until you had accumulated a sufficiency of
convincing evidence for us to act upon; though, even now we must be very
cautious as to what we do. And let me also add that Mr Smellie has
spoken to me in the highest terms of your conduct throughout that trying
time when you and he were ashore together; indeed he assures me that to
you, under God, he is indebted for the actual preservation of his life.
I have watched you carefully from the moment of your first coming on
board, and I have been highly gratified with your conduct throughout.
Go on as you have begun, young sir, and you will prove an ornament to
the service. And now, gentlemen, to business."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

POOR AUSTIN'S FATE.

I hurried on deck, highly gratified at the very handsome compliment paid
me by the skipper, and found that the hands were aloft, casting loose
the canvas. Presently, without a word having been spoken above a
whisper, or a shout uttered, they came down again; the topsail halliards
were manned, the yards mast-headed, the jib run up, the cable slipped,
and we were under weigh; the fog all the time being as thick as a hedge,
so thick indeed that it was impossible to see the jib-boom end from the
quarter-deck. Old Mildmay, the master, was conning the ship; but of
course in such a fog it was all guess-work, and the old fellow was
terribly nervous and anxious, as indeed was also Captain Vernon. It
struck me that the ship might be better conned from aloft, and I stepped
up to the skipper and with due modesty mentioned my idea.

"A very happy thought," exclaimed the master, who happened to overhear
me. "I'll just step up as far as the crosstrees myself."

"Very good, Mr Mildmay; do so by all means," said Captain Vernon. "But
the wind is light, and what little of it there is will carry the sound
of your voice down to the br