lls in the
following morning watch, our next port of call being, as I now learned,
Lisbon.

During the day occupied by our run down channel all hands had an easy
time of it, there being nothing much for them to do except keep the ship
clean and take an occasional pull at a halyard or brace. I therefore
had ample time to take stock of the crew and improve my acquaintance
with my shipmates generally.

As regards the crew, I had an idea that in a quiet way they were
watching me and seeking to "reckon me up". I was a "Britisher", the
only one in the ship; and my experience of Americans, which up to that
time had been but slight, led me to the belief that the people, taken as
a whole, held the Britisher in but light esteem. I therefore decided
that, so far at least as the crew of the _Stella Maris_ was concerned,
the reputation of my countrymen was to some extent in my hands, and I
determined to let slip no opportunity to vindicate it. I was the more
strengthened in this resolution by hearing the boy Julius remark to his
sister, in tones which I felt were fully intended to reach my ear, that
"he had no use for Britishers, and took no stock in them, for they were
never of much account."

I do not know whether my brother officers shared the lad's view, or
whether they, as I half-suspected the men of doing, were quietly waiting
to see of what stuff I was made; but, in either case, they never, with
the solitary exception of Briscoe, the second mate, permitted such an
attitude to appear. On the contrary, they were genial, cordial, and
friendly in a very marked degree, so that within the first twenty-four
hours of our being at sea I felt thoroughly at home with all of them.
If I had a preference for any above the others it was for Monroe, the
boy's tutor, and Harper, the medico of the ship, both of whom were
extremely broad-minded men, in addition to being exceptionally well
informed and polished in manner. As for our skipper, the more I saw of
her the better I liked her. I soon discovered that nothing escaped her
notice; she was as smart a seaman as Kennedy himself; she was an expert
navigator; the heavens and their portents were an open book to her; she
issued her orders with the utmost confidence and decision, and never
hesitated to find fault if things did not please her; and yet with it
all she was most gracious and friendly in her manner to us all, from the
highest to the lowest.

As for Miss Anthea, I am bound t