the ocean for the to them
endless period of nineteen days, without seeing a single sail until we
hove in sight.

On the fifth day after rescuing these poor creatures we arrived at Port
Royal, where we anchored, while such of our convoy as were bound for
Kingston went on up the harbour.

I had heard much respecting the beauty of the Island of Jamaica; and its
appearance from the sea, as we had drawn in toward our anchorage, was
such as to satisfy me that its attractions had not been overrated. I
was anxious to have a run ashore; and was therefore very glad when the
skipper, who had business at Kingston, invited me to go with him. I
ought to have mentioned, by-the-bye, that he had long ago taken me into
his confidence with regard to his engagement to Florrie--had done so, in
fact, within a quarter of an hour of the time when he bade her good-bye,
so that, though of course he was still the skipper in public, when we
happened to be by ourselves he sank the superior officer, and merged
into the friendly intimacy of the prospective brother-in-law.

We jumped into the gig and rowed ashore to the wharf at Port Royal, it
being the skipper's intention to take a wherry for the trip to Kingston.
The moment that our wants were made known, the black boatmen crowded
round us in a perfect mob, each extolling the merits of his own boat and
depreciating those of the others. From words they soon came to blows,
the combatants lowering their heads and butting at each other like
goats, until one Hercules of a fellow, having won by force of arms--or
rather, by the superior thickness and strength of his woolly skull--the
right to convey us to our destination, we were led in triumph by him to
his boat, and comfortably stowed away in the stern-sheets. The sea-
breeze had by this time set in; and in a few minutes more we were
tearing along the five-foot channel at a slashing pace. As we spun
along toward our destination, I could not help remarking upon the
perfect safety from attack by an enemy which Kingston enjoys. In the
first place, the approach from the outside is of so difficult a
character, in consequence of the narrowness and intricacy of the
channels between the outlying shoals and reefs, that it would be almost
impossible for a stranger to find his way in. If, however, he should by
any chance get safely as far as Port Royal, its defences would assuredly
stop his further progress; and then, as though these were not deemed
suffi