rd appearance not much
the worse for his accident.

From that day, however, he was in reality a changed man. Once among the
most high-spirited and joyous of the crew, he became melancholy and
silent, though he went through his duty as usual. About a month
afterwards, as Adair was going forward, he saw a whitehaired man sitting
on the coamings of the fore-hatchway.

"Where did that old man come from?" he asked of Snatchblock.

"I never saw so strange a thing in all my life, sir," was the answer.
"Last night when he turned in his hair was as black as mine, and this
morning, when the hammocks were piped up, it was as you see it. _That
man, sir, is Ned Somers_!"

Adair could scarcely believe what he heard till he spoke to poor Ned,
who, however, not having a looking-glass, did not seem to be aware of
the change. After this he grew weaker and weaker; his nervous system,
when he fell overboard, had received a shock which was too much for him.
Murray had resolved to send him home, when the surgeon reported that
the poor fellow had not many hours to live. Before night he breathed
his last, and was buried in the seaman's wide sepulchre, the Ocean. He
survived the accident scarcely three months.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

UP THE PARANA--MURRAY'S FOREBODINGS--BATTLE OF PUNTA OBLIGADO--ATTACKED
BY FIRESHIPS--SCHOONER BLOWS UP--JACK AND MURRAY PERFORM A GALLANT
EXPLOIT--MURRAY WOUNDED--THE BATTERIES STORMED--TOM AND GERALD CARRIED
OFF BY GAUCHOS.

"Hurrah! my boy, there is a prospect of more glorious or, at all events,
more exciting work than slave-hunting," exclaimed Adair, as he came on
board the _Supplejack_ from the _Tudor_, both vessels then lying in Rio
harbour.

"When? where?" asked Jack.

"Up the Parana, and immediately, as far as I can make out. Murray has
just received his orders, and you will get yours before the day is many
hours longer. I conclude that small vessels are wanted for the work, so
you are certain to be sent."

"Has Murray heard what we are to do when we get there?" asked Jack.

"Yes, to force our way up the river, which a certain General Rosas,
calling himself President of Buenos Ayres, has taken it into his head no
one shall do; and so, of course, he will attempt to stop us."

"Who is the fellow? I don't think I have ever heard of him before,"
said Jack.

"Nor did I till Murray told me, and, as he reads everything, he, of
course, knew all about the matter. You have an atlas, jus