the name of the craft?"

"The _Silver Teal_."

"Silver Eel--eh? What a ridiculously slippery name for a boat!"

"_Silver Teal_," said Poole emphatically.

"Silver Grandmother! A nice set you must be to give your gimcrack craft
such a name as that! But you may take my word for it that as soon as
ever you are caught in your slippery eel you will all either be hung or
go to penal servitude for life--though perhaps you'll be let off, as you
are nothing better than a boy."

"Oh yes, I am only a boy," said Poole, rather bitterly; "but the _Silver
Teal_, or Silver Eel as you call it, has to be caught yet. Your people
did not make a very grand affair of it the other night."

"Pooh! That's only because one of our stupid fellows who had been on
the watch the night before dropped to sleep. They'll soon have you.
You'll have the _Tonans_ thundering on your heels before you know where
you are. I am expecting to hear her guns every minute."

"That's quite possible," said Poole quietly; "but our little schooner
will take some catching, I can tell you."

"So you think," said Fitz, "but you in your ignorance don't know
everything. You only sail, and what's the use of that against steam?
Just let our gunboat be after you in a calm, and then where are you
going to be?"

"I don't know, and I don't think it's worth while to argue about it when
we are out here in mid-ocean, and I suppose your gunboat is hanging
about somewhere off the port of Liverpool. But look here, hadn't you
better take father's advice and not talk so much? I don't mind what you
say to me, and it doesn't hurt a bit, but you are rather weak yet, and
after all you have gone through I shouldn't like to see you go back
instead of forward. Why not have another nap?"

Fitz gave a contemptuous sniff, held his tongue as if his companion in
the cabin were not worthy of notice, and lay perfectly still gazing out
to sea, but with his face twitching every now and then as he lay
thinking with all his might about some of the last words Poole had said
connected with the possibility of the gunboat being so far away, and he
alone and helpless among these strangers, his spirits sank. How was it
all going to end? he thought. What a position to be in! The skipper
had said something about putting him aboard some vessel, or ashore;--but
how or when? The position seemed hopeless in the extreme, and the poor
weak lad thought and thought till his tired brain began to g