with my prospective new skipper; therefore I at once unhesitatingly and
gratefully accepted the offer.

I was then gracefully dismissed, with instructions to be prepared to
"sign on" at eleven o'clock on the morrow, and to have my dunnage aboard
not later than noon, since the yacht would haul out of dock and proceed
down the river early in the afternoon.

I had taken my leave of Mrs Vansittart, and was already out on deck on
my way to the gangway, when the lady rushed after me and called upon me
to stop, exclaiming:

"Sakes alive! what's come over me? I declare to goodness I clean forgot
that you haven't yet been measured for your uniforms. Colson,"--to one
of the seamen who were engaged in striking packing cases down
below--"pass the word for Mr Grimwood, please. Mr Grimwood," she
explained, "is the purser. I'll turn you over to him, and he will take
you to the tailor, who will soon rig you out."

A shout down the after hatchway resulted in Mr Grimwood's prompt
appearance on deck, and to him I was in due form introduced.

"Mr Grimwood," said Mrs Vansittart, "this is Mr Walter Leigh--
L-e-i-g-h, you know--who will sign on at eleven o'clock to-morrow
morning as third mate of this ship. I want you to take him below to
Snip, who will measure him for his uniforms. Please tell Snip to
arrange things so that Mr Leigh's working uniform shall be ready for
him by noon. When you have done that, have the goodness to assign a
cabin to Mr Leigh; and at the same time I'd like you to introduce him
to the rest of the wardroom officers. You'll see to that? Thank you!
Once more, good afternoon, Mr Leigh!"

As the lady turned and left us, Grimwood chuckled.

"So the skipper's taken Kennedy's advice, after all, to ship a third
mate," he remarked. "Guess he's put one over Briscoe this time, anyway.
Briscoe's our `second', you know, and he bet Kennedy that he couldn't
persuade Mrs Vansittart to ship a `third'. Kennedy'll be a bit set up
when he hears the news, because, between you and me, he doesn't take
overmuch stock in Briscoe, and has held all along that we ought to have
a third mate to take his place if necessary. Oh, yes, Briscoe's all
right, so far as he goes; but he doesn't go far enough. He's not
exactly the right sort of man for a ship of this kind, and I think that,
for once in a way, Mrs Vansittart made a mistake when she picked him.
But I guess you'd better not take too much notice of what I say; I don't
wa