ich so suffocated him that he felt he would
burst if he had to keep it in much longer!

All he could do now was to brazen out the imposture, and he huddled the
boat-cloak round Jocko so as to conceal his form.

"Poor Senor Carrambo is suffering fearfully from the ague," he said in
explanation to the admiral of this little attention on his part--"I'm
afraid he should not have ventured out of the cabin."

"A good glass of sherry will soon warm him," said the admiral smiling,
"and I think I shall be able to offer him one."

"He's rather partial to bottled ale or stout," suggested Tom, "and he
may possibly prefer that."

"Rather a queer taste for a Spaniard," said the admiral, as the barge
reached the side of the flagship; "but I think I can also gratify on
board my ship this predilection of Senor--"

"Carrambo," prompted Tom.

"Yes, Carrambo," added the admiral as he mounted the accommodation
ladder of the flagship--Tom Finch with Jocko on his arm following in his
wake, as before, amidst the mutual salutes of the admiral and the
officers, to the state cabin of the chief.

Seated at the dinner-table, to which all were summoned with all proper
ceremony to the exhilarating tune of the "Roast beef of old England,"
Jocko, who had a chair alongside of Tom, behaved with the utmost
decorum.

He indeed appeared to eat little but bread, biscuit, tart, and fruit;
but, beyond a grimace, which must have caused the admiral to reflect
that of all the ugly persons he ever beheld in his life, this Chilian
officer was certainly the ugliest, nothing particularly happened, and
the dinner passed off without an exposure.

Tom, the admiral observed, frequently helped "the generalissimo's aide-
de-camp," especially in pouring out his wine, which he limited in a
marked degree; but the jocular lieutenant-commander passed this off by
saying that his distinguished friend--whom he exchanged a word with
occasionally, of some outlandish language, a mixture of Spanish and High
Dutch, with a sprinkling of the Chinese tongue--was in the most feeble
health and acting under the doctor's directions regarding his diet:--
that was the reason also, he explained, of his remaining cloaked and
with his head-covering on at the admiral's table, for which he craved a
thousand pardons!

After dinner, Tom would have given worlds to have beaten a retreat to
his own ship, as several officers came into the saloon while coffee was
handed round, and he dreaded