ht rose, there was quite plenty of sea, but the barque
was all right, and so was Joe, for he had coolly gone below, and he fell
asleep, with a thankful heart, on the cabin bench. The ship was quiet as
a cradle, and the smack's boat got up to her easily. The warps were made
fast again, and the two vessels once more went away in procession.

This time Joe had English company, and the two men had a good time until
the tug picked them up off Lowestoft. Joe Glenn had not changed a stitch
for eleven days, but he did not mind the discomfort the lump of salvage
made up for much pain and striving.

Joe bought a good cottage with his share, and he was satisfied; but I
quite agreed with him when he said that his money was hard earned. No
man ever spent a much queerer Christmas.

JACK BROWN.

When I first saw Jack, he had left his vessel at Barking Creek, and he
was enjoying a very vigorous spree; but he never lost temper or became
stupefied, and his loud merriment was rather pleasant than otherwise.
Jack did not look by any means like a rough, for his face had a kind of
girlish beauty. His dark cheeks were richly flushed, his throat was
round and white, and his blue eyes twinkled with fun. He stood about six
feet in height, and he would have made a fine guardsman, for he looked
as if he had been carefully drilled all his life long. Men who
habitually exercise every muscle and tendon acquire that graceful
carriage which belongs to the military gymnast. This fine young fellow
was full of high spirits and bodily power; courage was so natural to him
that I do not think such a word as "brave" ever entered his vocabulary.
He had never been afraid of anything in his life, and it did not occur
to him to think of danger. When Jack was a little child he was taken out
to sea in his father's vessel, and henceforth a ship was his only home
from year's end to year's end. The boy was so daring that he made some
of the old hands nervous very often, and there were many doleful
prophecies made regarding the ultimate fate of his carcase. On one blowy
day when the ships were pitching freely, it happened that Jack's father
went with fish to the steam cutter, leaving the urchin on deck. As the
old man drew back within a quarter-mile of his smack, he saw a black
figure clambering along the gaff, and he knew that it was Jack. Young
Hopeful crawled from the throat of the gaff to the very end of the spar,
and then proceeded to swarm up the gaff