ing
whether I stood upon my head or my heels, so overjoyed was I at the
prospect of the trip.

In less than an hour afterwards I was on board the "Vigilant," with the
despatch-box safely stowed away in the most secret hiding-place I could
find, and my instructions in my breast-pocket.

The night was lovely, not the faintest breath of air ruffled the surface
of the glassy waters, in whose dark mysterious depths glittered a
perfect reflection of every star which beamed in the blue-black vault
overhead. So perfect was the stillness of nature that we could hear,
with the utmost distinctness, the songs of the men on board the
different ships, and even the talking and laughing on board those in our
more immediate vicinity; and when we rigged out our sweeps to sweep the
craft into the offing, where I hoped we might the sooner catch a breeze,
their roll and rattle seemed almost unbearably loud in contrast with the
quiet which prevailed around us.

Having a good strong crew on board, I kept them at the sweeps for a
couple of hours, by which time we had gained an offing of about eight
miles, when I ordered the sweeps to be laid in and the canvas to be set.
Shortly afterwards the moon rose, and, bringing up a nice little
southerly breeze with her, we were soon slipping through the water,
close-hauled on the port tack, and laying well up on our course for old
Gib.

The skipper had been considerate enough to send with me another
midshipman, a quiet, steady, and gentlemanly lad named Harold Smellie, a
year younger than myself, and a boatswain's mate named Tom Hardy, a very
superior and well-educated man for his position, a prime seaman, and
thoroughly reliable in every way. These two I put in charge of the
watches, and then, having seen that everything was satisfactory on deck
and in the look of the weather, I went below and tumbled into my
hammock, leaving of course the stereotyped charge to be called in the
event of anything "turning up" out of the usual way.

On awaking next morning, I found that the breeze had freshened very
considerably during the night, so much so indeed that when I went on
deck the "Vigilant" was tearing through it with her lee-rail under,
although the lateens were reefed to their utmost capacity. There was a
very awkward jump of a sea on already, and it was fast increasing; but
the light beamy little craft, although she tossed the spray in blinding
showers from her weather-bow right aft and out over