soothingly to him, looking so
kindly into his face, her tears falling fast, that I knew he was gaining
the comfort he needed.

The mate meantime, hearing what had happened, went into the cabin, as if
to satisfy himself. When he returned on deck, I saw that he could
scarcely conceal his satisfaction as he looked about with an air of
authority.

"Men," he said--for the crew had come up, a rumour having reached them
of what had occurred--"I am now captain of this brig, and you will have
to obey my orders. You understand me. I am not going to have any of
the nonsense we had before; what I say I'll have done, and if there's
any slackness, look out for squalls."

Captain Page, I should have said, had been accustomed to have prayers
every morning and service on Sunday--a practice not common, I am sorry
to say, in those days aboard merchantmen. The good old customs of our
forefathers had long been given up, when, rough as seamen might have
been, there were far more God-fearing men among them than at present; so
I have read. I am afraid Kydd alluded to this practice of the
captain's, as well as to the kind and gentle way in which he ruled his
crew. The men touched their hats in recognition of his authority, but I
saw from the looks they cast at him, that they held him in very
different estimation to their late master. A stricter captain, perhaps,
might have kept them in better order. Many of them were somewhat rough
hands; but still his kindness had won their hearts, and, rough as they
were, they now showed unmistakable signs of sorrow for his death.

When the mate ceased speaking, and turned aft with a conceited air, I
saw them talking together, and casting no very complimentary looks
towards him. The old boatswain, indeed, Jeremiah Barker, took but
little pains to conceal his indignation. No sooner was the mate's back
turned than he lifted up his fist with a threatening gesture, which made
me fear greatly for the future discipline of the ship. As to
expostulating with a fellow like Kydd, I knew it would be utterly
useless; and I was afraid that even if Stanley or the other gentlemen
spoke to him, he would be as little likely to attend to them as to me.

I must confess that the captain's death and this conduct of Kydd made me
forget altogether the almost dying injunctions of the former to anchor
as soon as we got into shallow water. The latter also seemed entirely
to have forgotten that we were already in soun