gleaders at the yardarm,
clap the rest under hatches, and steer for the nearest prison."

"Oh!" said Tadcaster, and digested this scheme a bit. At last he perked
up again, and made his final hit. "Well, I shouldn't care, for one, if
you didn't flog us."

"In that case," said Captain Hamilton, "I'd flog you--and stop your six
ounces."

"Then curse the sea; that is all I say."

"Why, you have not seen it; you have only seen the British Channel." It
was Mr. Fitzroy who contributed this last observation.

After dinner all but the captain went on deck, and saw the Eddystone
lighthouse ahead and to leeward. They passed it. Fitzroy told his
lordship its story, and that of its unfortunate predecessors. Soon after
this Lord Tadcaster turned in.

Presently the captain observed a change in the thermometer, which
brought him on deck. He scanned the water and the sky, and as these
experienced commanders have a subtle insight into the weather,
especially in familiar latitudes, he remarked to the first lieutenant
that it looked rather unsettled; and, as a matter of prudence, ordered
a reef in the topsails, and the royal yards to be sent down: ship to be
steered W. by S. This done, he turned in, but told them to call him if
there was any change in the weather.

During the night the wind gradually headed; and at four bells in the
middle watch a heavy squall came up from the south-west.

This brought the captain on deck again: he found the officer of the
watch at his post, and at work. Sail was shortened, and the ship made
snug for heavy weather.

At four A.M. it was blowing hard, and, being too near the French coast,
they wore the ship.

Now, this operation was bad for little Tadcaster. While the vessel was
on the starboard tack, the side kept him snug; but, when they wore her,
of course he had no leeboard to keep him in. The ship gave a lee-lurch,
and shot him clean out of his bunk into the middle of the cabin.

He shrieked and shrieked, with terror and pain, till the captain and
Staines, who were his nearest neighbors, came to him, and they gave him
a little brandy, and got him to bed again. Here he suffered nothing but
violent seasickness for some hours. As for Staines, he had been swinging
heavily in his cot; but such was his mental distress that he would have
welcomed seasickness, or any reasonable bodily suffering. He was in that
state when the sting of a wasp is a touch of comfort.

Worn out with sickness, Tadcaste