et. I clung for bare life, scarce awake yet nor
knowing what had happened. The next moment I was under water. I still
held on to the rope and was soon out again. By this time I was pretty
well awake to what had happened. A ship running down channel had walked
clean over the poor old Dolphin, and I had got hold of the bobstay. It
took me some time to climb up on to the bowsprit, for every time she
pitched I went under water. However, I got up at last and swarmed along
the bowsprit and got on board. There was a chap sitting down fast asleep
there. I walked aft to the helmsman. Two men were pacing up and down in
front of him. 'You're a nice lot, you are,' I said, 'to go running down
Channel at ten knots an hour without any watch, a-walking over ships and
a-drowning of seamen. I'll have the law of ye, see if I don't.'

"'Jeerusalem!' said one, 'who have we here?'

"'My name is Jack Perkins,' says I, 'and I'm the sole survivor, as far
as I knows, of the smack, the Flying Dolphin, as has been run down by
this craft and lost with all hands.'

"'Darn the Flying Dolphin, and you too,' says the man, and he begins
to walk up and down the deck a-puffn' of a long cigar as if nothing had
happened.

"'Oh, come,' says I, 'this won't do. Here you've been and run down a
smack, drowned father and the other three hands, and your lookout fast
asleep, and you does nothing.'

"'I suppose,' said the captain, sarcastic, 'you want me to jump over
to look for 'em. You want me to heave the ship to in this gale and
to invite yer father perlitely to come on board. P'raps you'd like a
grapnel put out to see if I couldn't hook the smack and bring her up
again. Perhaps you'd like to be chucked overboard yourself. Nobody asked
you to come on board, nobody wanted your company. I reckon the wisest
thing you can do is to go for'ard and turn in.' There didn't seem much
for me to do else, so I went forward to the forecastle. There most of
the hands were asleep, but two or three were sitting up yarning. I told
'em my story and what this captain had said.

"'He's a queer hand is the skipper,' one of 'em said, 'and hasn't got a
soft place about him. Well, my lad, I'm sorry for what's happened, but
talking won't do it any good. You've got a long voyage before you, and
you'd best turn in and make yourself comfortable for it.'

"'I ain't going a long voyage,' says I, beginning to wipe my eye, 'I
wants to be put ashore at the first port.'

"'Well, my lad,