lies Captain
Kearney," &c. &c. His tombstone had not been set up twenty-four hours
before somebody, who knew his character, put a dash under one word, as
emphatic as it was true of the living man, "Here _lies_ Captain."

Chapter XXXVIII

Captain Horton--Gloomy news from home--Get over head and ears in the
water, and find myself afterwards growing one way, and my clothes
another--Though neither as rich as a Jew, nor as large as a camel, I
pass through my examination, which my brother candidates think passing
strange.

The day after Captain Kearney's decease, his acting successor made his
appearance on board. The character of Captain Horton was well known to
us from the complaints made by the officers belonging to his ship, of
his apathy and indolence; indeed, he went by the _soubriquet_ of "the
Sloth." It certainly was very annoying to his officers to witness so
many opportunities of prize-money and distinction thrown away through
the indolence of his disposition. Captain Horton was a young man of
family who had advanced rapidly in the service from interest, and from
occasionally distinguishing himself. In the several cutting-out
expeditions, on which he had not volunteered but had been ordered, he
had shown, not only courage, but a remarkable degree of coolness in
danger and difficulty, which had gained him much approbation: but it was
said that this coolness arose from his very fault--an unaccountable
laziness. He would walk away, as it were, from the enemy's fire, when
others would hasten, merely because he was so apathetic that he would
not exert himself to run. In one cutting-out expedition in which he
distinguished himself, it is said that having to board a very high
vessel, and that in a shower of grape and musketry, when the boat dashed
alongside, and the men were springing up, he looked up at the height of
the vessel's sides, and exclaimed, with a look of despair, "My God! must
we really climb up that vessel's decks?" When he had gained the deck,
and became excited, he then proved how little fear had to do with the
remark, the captain of the ship falling by his hand, as he fought in
advance on his own men. But this peculiarity, which in a junior officer
was of little consequence, and a subject of mirth, in a captain became
of a very serious nature. The admiral was aware how often he had
neglected to annoy or capture the enemy when he might have done it; and,
by such neglect, Captain Horton infringed o