erke, but he soon after dying at sea, Mr King took command
of the expedition. Captain Clerke was a very gallant fellow. I knew
him well.

At last my leave was nearly up, and I had to set off to rejoin my ship,
allowing myself a few days to spend in London. Jane advised me to stop
at Bristol to visit our great-uncle, Sir Hurricane Tempest, but I
replied that I did not think the old gentleman would care about seeing
me, and I certainly should not find any pleasure in seeing him.

"You don't know," she answered, laughing; "he might take a fancy to you
and make you his heir. He has asked me to visit him, and I think I
will, some of these days."

"I hope that you will, Jane, dear," said I. "You are far more likely to
win an old man's heart than I am. I am as likely to become his heir as
Sultan of the Turks."

Jane still further urged the point, but I only laughed and went on to
London without stopping to see him.

On arriving in London, accompanied by Tom Rockets, I went to the house
of a relative of ours in Bloomsbury Square, one of the most fashionable
and elegant quarters of London. He and his wife were very grand people,
but they had a fancy for patronising celebrities small and great, and
having by some chance heard that I had seen a good deal of service, and
could talk about what I had seen, they begged I would come and see them,
and make their house my home. I took them at their word, though I think
they were somewhat astonished when Tom and I arrived in a coach with our
traps stored inside and out of it. They looked, at all events, as if I
had tumbled from the moon. However, I made myself perfectly at home,
and we soon became great friends. I was on the point of leaving them
when a letter reached me from Captain Luttrell, prolonging my leave, and
I found that I might have remained three weeks longer at home. When
they heard of it, they most kindly invited me to remain on with them. I
amused myself pretty well, after I had seen all the sights of London, by
wandering about and examining the outside, as it were, of the huge
metropolis. One of the places at which I found myself was the suburb of
Tyburn, to the north of Hyde Park. It was a considerable distance from
London itself, and well it might be, for here was the place of execution
of all ordinary malefactors. One day I was passing this spot when I saw
four carts approaching. In each of them were three persons sitting,
with their arms closely p