uld allow
him. Before long, the young Frenchman made his appearance on deck,
dressed in the uniform of an English midshipman who had been killed. He
lifted his hat in the politest manner to the captain and officers, and
thanked them for the courtesy they had shown him. He was in the middle
of his speech, which was very pathetic, when his eye fell on some of the
articles which had been picked up and had not been taken below. Among
them was a long narrow case. He sprang towards it with a shout of joy.

"C'est a moi! c'est a moi!" he exclaimed, as he produced a key from a
lanyard round his neck. He opened the case and drew forth a violin and
bow. The case had been well made and water-tight; he applied the
instrument to his chin. At first, only slow melancholy sounds were
elicited; but by degrees, as the strings got dry, the performer's arms
moved more rapidly, and he at last struck up a right merry tune.

The effect was curious and powerful. The captain unconsciously began to
move his feet, the officers to shuffle, and the men, catching the
infection, commenced a rapid hornpipe, which Mr Order, the
first-lieutenant, in vain attempted to stop. The young Frenchman,
delighted at finding that his music was appreciated, played faster and
faster, till everybody on deck was moving about in a fashion seldom seen
on the deck of a man-of-war.

"Stop, stop!" shouted the first-lieutenant; "knock off that nonsense,
men; stop your fiddling, I say, youngster--stop your fiddling, I say."

The discipline of the ship was very nearly upset; the men, however,
heard and obeyed; but the young Frenchman, not comprehending a word, and
delighted moreover to get back his beloved violin, continued playing
away as eagerly as at first, till Mr Order, losing patience, seized his
arm, and by a significant gesture, ordered him to desist. His musical
talent, and his apparent good-nature, gained for the French lad the
goodwill of the crew, and of most of the officers also.

"What is your name, my young friend?" asked Captain Walford.

"Alphonse Montauban," was the answer.

"Very well; you will be more at your ease in the midshipmen's berth, I
suspect. Take him below, Mr Bruff, and say that I beg the young
gentlemen will accommodate him and treat him with kindness. You'll get
a hammock slung for him."

"Ay, ay, sir," answered Bruff, taking Alphonse by the hand. "Come
along, youngster."

Bruff was anxious to say something kind to the