d. "There will be no difficulty in making up your
complement," said he, "though I shall have to put on board you a few
convalescents from the hospital, but I will take care that you get none
but thoroughly sound and healthy men; there are at least a dozen now
ready to be discharged, and who only want a mouthful of sea air and a
meal or two of salt junk to make them fit for anything. I shall also
give you a couple of midshipmen and a master's mate, which, with what
you have already, will, I think, make you pretty complete."

This was more than I had dared hope, though certainly not more than was
necessary for such a craft as the _Dolphin_; so, finding the old
gentleman disposed to be generous, I boldly broached the matter of the
guns, and pleaded so earnestly that I at length won his consent to my
retention of the schooner's original armament. This concluded my
business on board the flag-ship, so, handing my address to the
secretary, I jumped into a shore-boat which I had alongside, and made
the best of my way to Kingston, where Courtenay had preceded me. We had
previously made up our minds to test the sincerity of an invitation
which Mr Thomson--who had very hospitably entertained us on our last
visit to Kingston--had given us, so we first disposed at the hotel of an
excellent meal, which we _called_ lunch, but which was quite substantial
enough to merit the name of dinner, then hastily dashed off letters to
the officers who had proposed to receive us on board their ships,
thanking them for their very kind offers, which we explained we were
gratefully obliged to decline in consequence of the admiral having
intimated his intention of sending us on special service. This duty
performed we sallied forth and made the best of our way to our friend's
place of business, where, upon our first hint of having obtained a few
days' leave, his former invitation was repeated so earnestly and
heartily as to leave us in no shadow of doubt as to its sincerity. We
found to our great gratification that his family still occupied the
country house where we had previously been so hospitably entertained,
and to get over the slight difficulty which presented itself as to how
we were to convey ourselves thither, our host, with a generous
confidence which we certainly had done nothing to merit, urged us to
make an immediate start in his ketureen, begging us at the same time not
to forget to send into town a saddle-horse for his own use later