board, that I
might be properly acquainted with all the articles in which I was going
to trade. "It's just what I expected of him," I heard Mr Janrin remark
to Mr Thursby, when one evening I returned late from my daily duties.
"Ay, sir, there is the ring of the true metal in the lad," observed the
head clerk.

Captain Hassall was as active in his department as I was in mine, and we
soon had the _Barbara_ ready for sea with a tolerably good crew. In
those stirring days of warfare it was no easy thing to man a merchantman
well, but Captain Hassall had found several men who had sailed with him
on previous voyages, and they without difficulty persuaded others to
ship on board the _Barbara_.

Our first officer, Mr Randolph, was a gentleman in the main, and a very
pleasant companion, though he had at first sight, in his everyday
working suit, that scarecrow look which tall gaunt men, who have been
somewhat battered by wind and weather, are apt to get. Our second mate,
Ben, or rather "Benjie" Stubbs, as he was usually called, was nearly as
broad as he was long, with puffed-out brown cheeks wearing an invincible
smile. He was a man of one idea: he was satisfied with being a thorough
seaman, and was nothing else. As to history, or science, or the
interior of countries, he was profoundly ignorant. As to the land, it
was all very well in its way to grow trees and form harbours, but the
sea was undoubtedly the proper element for people to live on; and he
seemed to look with supreme contempt on all those who had the misfortune
to be occupied on shore. The third mate, Henry Irby, had very little
the appearance of a sailor, though he was a very good one. He was
slight in figure, and refined in his manners, and seemed, I fancied,
born to a higher position than that which he held. He had served for
two years before the mast, but his rough associates during that time had
not been able in any way to alter him. Our surgeon, David Gwynne, was,
I need scarcely say, a Welshman. He had not had much professional
experience, but he was an intelligent young man, and had several of the
peculiarities which are considered characteristic of his people; but I
hoped, from what I saw of him when he first came on board, that he would
prove an agreeable companion. Curious as it may seem, there were two
men among the crew who by birth were superior to any of us. I may,
perhaps, have to say more about them by-and-bye. We mustered, officers
a