story I had just heard; winding up by asking him
whether he felt disposed to undertake the duty of navigating the ship
home.

As might have been expected, he was more than willing to take advantage
of so favourable an opportunity to return home; and as neither he nor
his crew had anything to pack, or any preparations to make for the
contemplated change, they were quite ready to leave us by the time that
the _Calcutta's_ people had finished their breakfast. Before they left,
however, it was privately arranged between Captain Baker and myself
that, with the first breeze that came to us, the two craft should close,
in order that I might have an opportunity of going on board and adding
my signature to a declaration that he proposed to insert in the _City of
Calcutta's_ log-book relative to the statement made to us by the
boatswain, and the circumstances generally under which he was assuming
the command of the ship.

The weather was, as I have already said, stark calm, with not a speck of
cloud anywhere within the whole visible bounds of the heavens; the sea
was like glass; and if I had been asked whether there was any movement
in the atmosphere I should unhesitatingly have answered "No;" yet, as
Roberts was careful to indicate to me more than once during the morning,
the helmsman managed not only to get the _Esmeralda's_ head pointed
towards the distant ship, but also to keep it pretty steadily in that
direction; and it is an unquestionable fact that, this done, we neared
her at the rate of about three-quarters of a knot per hour. This state
of things lasted during the whole day; and accordingly, when eight bells
in the afternoon watch struck, the two ships being at that time about a
mile and a half apart, I had the gig lowered, and, after carefully
instructing the chief mate how to proceed in the event of a breeze
unexpectedly springing up, pulled on board the _City of Calcutta_.

She was a noble ship, of some eighteen hundred tons measurement, built
of iron, with a spacious poop aft; the decks as white as snow; fittings
of every kind of the very best; double topsail and topgallant yards; in
fact, a typical modern clipper. She had accommodation for thirty saloon
passengers; but was luckily carrying none, on that voyage at least. The
accommodation ladder had been lowered for my convenience, and as the gig
dashed alongside and the oars were tossed in, Captain Baker made his
appearance at the gangway to welcome me, and