y we rely upon your not repeating
anything you overheard this evening,--at least, for a year to come?'

"'You may,' said I.

"'But, Dawkins,' said the admiral, in a half-whisper, 'if the poor fellow
be mad?'

"'My lord,' said I, boldly, 'I am not mad. Misfortune and calamity I have
had enough of to make me so; but, thank God, my brain has been tougher than
my poor heart. I was once the part-owner and commander of a goodly craft,
that swept the sea, if not with a broad pennon at her mast-head, with as
light a spirit as ever lived beneath one. I was rich, I had a home and a
child; I am now poor, houseless, childless, friendless, and an outcast. If
in my solitary wretchedness I have loved to look upon that old bark, it is
because its fortune seemed like my own. It had outlived all that needed or
cared for it. For this reason have they thought me mad, though there are
those, and not few either, who can well bear testimony if stain or reproach
lie at my door, and if I can be reproached with aught save bad luck. I have
heard by chance what you have said this night. I know that you are fitting
out a secret expedition; I know its dangers, its inevitable dangers, and I
here offer myself to lead it. I ask no reward; I look for no price. Alas,
who is left to me for whom I could labor now? Give me but the opportunity
to end my clays with honor on board the old craft, where my heart still
clings; give me but that. Well, if you will not do so much, let me serve
among the crew; put me before the mast. My lord, you'll not refuse this.
It is an old man asks; one whose gray hairs have floated many a year ago
before the breeze.'

"'My poor fellow, you know not what you ask; this is no common case of
danger.'

"'I know it all, my lord; I have heard it all.'

"'Dawkins, what is to be done here?' inquired the admiral.

"'I say, friend,' inquired Dawkins, laying his hand upon my arm, 'what is
your real name? Are you he who commanded the "Dwarf" privateer in the Isle
of France?'

"'The same.'

"'Then you are known to Lord Collingwood?'

"'He knows me well, and can speak to my character.'

"'What he says of himself is all true, my lord.'

"'True,' said I, 'true! You did not doubt it, did you?'

"'We,' said the admiral, 'must speak together again. Be here to-morrow
night at this hour; keep your own counsel of what has passed, and now
good-night.' So saying, the admiral took Dawkins by the arm and returned
slowly towards the town,