ge it with
her.

"Well, will you come up to dinner?"

"No, I shall be busy all day. Here are the letters I was speaking
of."

"Well, we have supper at seven. Will you come then?"

"With pleasure."

"Will Joe be able to come, too?"

"No; it wouldn't do for us both to leave the brig. The Spanish
fleet may be sending in their boats, to try and cut some of our
vessels out, and I should not feel comfortable if we were both
ashore; but he will be very glad to see you, on board. We are
anchored a cable length from the Water Port. You are pretty sure to
see one of our boats alongside.

"The steward came off with me, to buy some soft tack and fresh
meat. I saw him just before I met you. He told me he had got some
bread, but that meat was at a ruinous price. I told him that he
must get it, whatever price it was, and I expect by this time he
has done so; so if you look sharp, you will get to the boat before
it puts off with him."

The steward was in the act of getting into the boat, as Bob ran
down.

"Glad to see you, Mister Repton," the man said, touching his hat.
"Have you seen the captain, sir?"

"Yes, I have just left him. He told me I should catch you here."

"Thinking of having another cruise with us, sir?"

"I am thinking about it, Parker, but I don't know whether I shall
be able to manage it."

They were soon alongside the Antelope.

"I thought it was you, Mister Repton, when I saw you run down to
the boat," Joe Lockett said, as he shook hands with Bob.

"I am glad to see you again, Joe, and I am glad to hear you are
first mate now; though of course, I am sorry for Mr. Probert."

"Yes, a bad job for him, a very bad job; but it won't be so bad, in
his case, as in some. He has been talking, for the last two or
three voyages, of retiring. An old uncle of his died, and left him
a few acres of land down in Essex; and he has saved a bit of money
out of his pay, and his share of the prizes we have made; and he
talked about giving up the sea, and settling down on shore. So now,
he will do it. He said as much as that, the night he was wounded.

"'Well,' he said, 'there won't be any more trouble about making up
my mind, Joe. If I do get over this job, I have got to lay up as a
dismantled hulk, for the rest of my life. I have been talking of it
to you, but I doubt whether I should ever have brought myself to
it, if it had not been for them Frenchmen's shot.'

"Well, will you come into the cabin, and take som