s in your thumb-nail." The remarks of the other men, as they
passed by, were still less complimentary to the new master; and had he
heard them, he might well have doubted his power of keeping his crew in
order. I felt, indeed, very anxious, for though I had thought very
little of Kydd, I was not aware how he was despised and detested by the
men.

I more than ever wished that a breeze would spring up, that they might
have something to do, and that we might get away from this dangerous
part of the coast. The calm, however, still continued, and at length
the time came for lowering our late captain into his ocean grave. The
sailmaker came aft with the boatswain to superintend the operation of
enclosing him in a hammock, into which they fastened a pig of iron
ballast.

"Them sharks shan't have him, nohow," observed the sailmaker; "for
though the bottom may be a long way off, he will reach it pretty
quickly, and lie quiet there till the day when we all come up from the
land or sea--it will not then matter where we have lain in the
meantime--to answer for ourselves. I only wish I was as sure to give as
good an account of myself as he is."

"Be quick there!" cried the mate from the deck. "There is a breeze
coming up, I have a notion, and we shall have to trim sails. I wish to
get this business over first."

Kate had been keeping Natty by her side while this was going forward.
Two of the other men now came below and assisted to carry the captain's
body on deck, where my cousin Stanley had got his prayer-book, and stood
ready. The old boatswain had thrown a flag over the body, now placed on
a plank, one end of which projected out of a port. While the funeral
service of the Church of England was read, not a sound was heard except
the unrepressed sobs which burst from poor Natty's bosom, and the
creaking of the yards and blocks as the brig moved imperceptibly from
side to side. Then came the dull, sullen sound of a plunge, as, old
Barker lifting up the end of the plank, the body slid off into the
water. As I looked over the side I could see the white shrouded figure
descending into the depths of ocean. Just as it disappeared, I caught
sight of the dark form of a huge shark gliding towards it; but I had
hopes that it had sunk far below the creature's reach before he could
seize it.

"Stow away that plank," said the mate, the instant the captain's body
had been launched overboard. "I wish this breeze would come, th