ns.

As Terry saw the launch shoot away from the vessel's side, there came
over him a wild impulse to spring on board her, that he too might be
taken ashore. He had already begged the boatswain to let him go, and
had been contemptuously rebuffed; but this, instead of quieting him,
only intensified his desire to get off the ship before there should be
any fighting. He now saw what seemed to him his only chance, and
without pausing to consider the folly of his enterprise, darted past
the sailors at the gangway-ladder, bounded down the steps, and as the
boat swung clear, gathering all his strength into one supreme effort,
he sprang out towards her.

For a mere boy it was a grand attempt, but it failed nevertheless.
Just as he leaped, the boatswain shouted, "Give way now;" and, driven
by twelve brawny oarsmen, the launch shot forward so swiftly that
Terry's spring fell short, and he himself vanished in the swirling
water!

But only for a moment. Almost before the spectators realized what had
happened, his head appeared above the surface, and with skilful strokes
he made for the gangway, where a sailor was awaiting him with a
grinning face and a helping hand.

"Well, you are a daisy, and no mistake," he exclaimed, in an
unmistakable tone of admiration, as he drew the dripping boy up to the
platform. "What on earth possessed you to do that?"

Terry gave a despairing glance at the departing boat, now fifty yards
away, whose occupants had taken no more notice of his plunge than if it
had been the jumping of a pollack, before replying. Then he said with
a bitter sigh, as he blew the brine out of his mouth,--

"I wanted to go ashore in her. The bosun wouldn't let me aboard, bad
cess to him, so I thought I'd jump for it."

By this time a number of the sailors had gathered round, while several
officers were looking over the bulwarks, and Terry's explanation was
received with a murmur of astonishment. Standing in the awe they did
of the captain of the ship, the idea of this slip of an Irish lad
having the audacity to thrust himself on the launch not merely
uninvited, but after having been flatly refused, was nothing short of
astounding. They had not taken much interest in the boy before, but
now they regarded him as quite a novel type, his proceeding had been so
utterly out of the ordinary.

"Come up on deck, my boy, and get some dry clothes on you," called put
one of the officers. "That was certainly a dashing at