lasted the greater part of the night.

"It's very fine," exclaimed Jerry Bird at last; "but to my mind a sound
snooze is more to the purpose than straining our eyes out by winking at
it, seeing we can't say what work may be cut out for us to-morrow; and
so I'm going to turn in."

His example was followed by the rest of the watch below, though the more
sentimental of the officers continued gazing at it for some time longer.
Adair wished that Lucy Rogers could enjoy it with him.

"I say, Archie, wouldn't Mr Mildmay now be after writing a
splendiferous sonnet if he was here?" whispered Desmond.

"Can't you try your hand, Gerald?" said Archie.

"Not I; I'm no poet. I can make a very good line to begin with, but
when I come to the second, I can never manage to fit the words in
properly."

"Just try now," said Archie. Thus encouraged, Desmond at length
exclaimed--

"`The lightnings flashing o'er the boundless deep--'"

"Very good," said Archie.

Gerald repeated the line several times. "`Arouse the seamen from their
"something" sleep,'" he added. "I'll get Mr Mildmay to put in a proper
word instead of `something,' for it's more than I can be after doing."

"Hold your tongues, youngsters!" exclaimed Adair, whose thoughts had
been far away till they were brought back by his nephew's voice. "Turn
in and get some sleep instead of chattering nonsense."

The midshipmen, obeying, coiled themselves in the sternsheets, while
Adair, who took the helm, sat indulging in a mood to which he had
hitherto been a stranger.

The morning came, and soon after breakfast, as the boat was running
along the coast, the entrance to a river, apparently of some size, was
discovered. The sea was tolerably calm on the bar, and as it appeared a
likely place for slavers to ship their cargoes, Adair resolved to run in
and explore it thoroughly. The wind carried them close up to the mouth,
when, it failing altogether, the oars were got out, and the crew pulled
away lustily, in the hopes of at length finding a slaver which they
could make their lawful prize. At this time, however, the Sultan of
Zanzibar issued licences to no inconsiderable number of vessels, on the
pretence that they were engaged in bringing him negroes to work on his
plantations; although, were his island ten times the size that it really
is, he could not have employed one-tenth of the blacks carried off to
slavery. On this flimsy pretext they might therefore find a dho