ulated that they should have twenty-four hours clear after
signing, in which to provide themselves with an outfit for the voyage.
To this I also assented, and we then separated, they to make their way
to the shipping-office, and I to hurry down to the barque for the
necessary papers and cash prior to joining them there.

It was just noon when, the work of signing the articles and paying the
advances having been completed, I jumped into a cab to drive to the
hotel at which the Desmonds were staying, to acquaint those good people
with my latest stroke of luck. They were out, however, as I felt
morally certain they would be; so I left a note for Sir Edgar, and then
set about the transaction of such small items of business as were
necessary prior to going to sea. This, however, amounted to very
little, as I had practically completed all my preparations long before;
so by five o' clock in the evening I had cleared everything off my
hands, and was once more alongside the ship. Here I found a note from
Sir Edgar Desmond awaiting me, in which he acknowledged the receipt of
my own epistle, and enjoined me to dine with them without fail that
evening. This I did; and the upshot of it all was that they decided to
complete the trip with me, despite the poor account I felt constrained
to give them of my crew, and announced their intention of joining the
ship immediately after lunch on the following day.

As I stretched myself out in my bunk that night, and reflected with a
sigh of satisfaction that, if all went well, we should be once more at
sea in less than twenty-four hours, the disagreeable suspicion for the
first time obtruded itself upon my mind that possibly it might prove
after all that I had been the victim of a clever swindle, and that I
should never see anything more of any of the men to whom I had handed
over two months' advance so confidingly. However, about eleven o'clock
the next morning, the first of them--William Rogers, the man whom I had
shipped as boatswain--put in an appearance alongside, neatly dressed in
a new suit of blue cloth, with cap, shirt, and shoes to match; also a
brand-new chest and bundle of bedding; and coming on board, quietly went
below and proceeded to arrange his belongings for the voyage. I was
agreeably surprised at this man's appearance; for whereas when I had
shipped him on the previous day, he was ragged, dirty, and unkempt, he
was now well-dressed, clean, and palpably fresh from the