lle de Milan_, strengthened by some of our people, and our gallant
captain, Sir Robert Laurie, and his officers once more took possession
of their own ship. It was a happy meeting on board the _Cleopatra_, you
may depend on that; and on the first Saturday afterwards, as may be
supposed, there was not a mess in which `Sweethearts and wives' was not
drunk with right hearty goodwill. Some, and I trust that I was among
them, felt that we owed our deliverance to a power greater than that of
men, and thanked with grateful hearts Him who had in His mercy delivered
us from the hand of our enemies. And oh! my fellow-countrymen, who read
this brief account of my early days, I, now an old man, would urge you,
when our beloved country is, as soon she may be, beset with foes,
burning with hatred and longing for her destruction, that while you
bestir yourselves like men and seize your arms for the desperate
conflict, you ever turn to the God of battles, the God of your fathers,
the God of Israel of old, and with contrite hearts for our many national
sins, beseech Him to protect us from wrong, to protect our native land,
our pure Protestant faith, our altars, our homes, the beloved ones
dwelling there, from injury. Pray to Him--rely on Him--and then surely
we need not fear what our enemies may seek to do to us.

Once more, then, we were on our way to England. I did believe that this
time I should reach it, I could not fancy that another disappointment
was in store for me. The weather, notwithstanding the stormy time of
the year, proved moderate, and we made good way on our homeward voyage.
While the boats were going backwards and forwards between the ships, I
had observed in one of them a man whose countenance bore, I thought, a
remarkable resemblance to that of Charles Iffley. Still I could not
fancy it was Iffley himself. I asked some of the _Leander's_ people
whether they had a man of that name on board, but they said that they
certainly had not, and so I concluded that I must have been mistaken.
The man saw me, but he made no sign of recognition, but neither, I felt,
would Iffley have done so had he been certain of my identity. Still the
countenance I had seen haunted me continually, and I could not help
fancying that he was still destined again to work me some evil.

"Land! land ahead!" was sung out one morning, just as breakfast was
over. The mess-tables were cleared in a moment, and every one not on
duty below was on