ere glad to
shelter themselves under his courage and skill, the latter of which had
excited the admiration of the butcher of the ship, who had been a
pugilist by profession. Thus did Jack at once take the rank of an
oldster, and soon became the leader of all the mischief. We
particularly observe this, because, had it so happened that our hero had
succumbed to Vigors, the case would have been the very reverse. He then
would have had to go through the ordeal to which most who enter the
naval service are exposed, which cannot be better explained than by
comparing it to the fagging carried to such an iniquitous extent in
public schools.

Mr Asper, for his own reasons, made him his companion: they walked the
night-watch together, and he listened to all Jack's nonsense about the
rights of man. And here Mr Asper did good without intending it, for,
at the same time that he appeared to agree with Jack, to secure his
favour, he cautioned him, and pointed out why this equality could not
exist altogether on board of a man-of-war.

As for himself, he said, he saw no difference between a lieutenant, or
even a captain, and a midshipman, provided they were gentlemen: he
should choose his friends where he liked, and despised that power of
annoyance which the service permitted. Of course, Jack and Mr Asper
were good friends, especially as, when half the watch was over, to
conciliate his good will and to get rid of his eternal arguing, Mr
Asper would send Jack down to bed.

They were now entering the Straits, and expected to anchor the next day
at Gibraltar, and Jack was forward on the forecastle, talking with
Mesty, with whom he had contracted a great friendship, for there was
nothing that Mesty would not have done for Jack, although he had not
been three weeks in the ship; but a little reflection will show that it
was natural.

Mesty had been a great man in his own country; he had suffered all the
horrors of a passage in a slave ship; he had been sold as a slave twice;
he had escaped--but he found that the universal feeling was strong
against his colour, and that on board of a man-of-war he was condemned,
although free, to the humblest of offices.

He had never heard any one utter the sentiments, which _now_ beat in his
own heart, of liberty and equality--we say _now_, for when he was in his
own country before his captivity, he had no ideas of equality; no one
has who is in power: but he had been schooled; and although people