whom was
our friend John Bumpus, rowed towards the shore.

"Have you brought your kit with you, John?" inquired the captain, as the
little boat shot over the smooth waters of the bay.

"Wot's of it, sir," replied our rugged seaman, holding up a small bundle
tied in a red cotton handkerchief. "I s'pose our cruise ashore won't be
a long one."

"It will be long for you, my man, at least as far as the schooner is
concerned, for I do not mean to take you aboard again."

"Not take me aboard agin!" exclaimed the sailor, with a look of surprise
which quickly degenerated into an angry frown, and thereafter gradually
relaxed into a broad grin as he continued--"why, capting, wot _do_ you
mean to do with me then, for I'm a heavy piece of goods, d'ye see, and
can't be easily moved about without a small touch o' my own consent, you
know."

Jo Bumpus, as he was fond of styling himself, said this with a
serio-comic air of sarcasm, for he was an exception to the general rule
of his fellows. He had little respect for, and no fear of, his
commander. Indeed, to say truth, (for truth must be told, even though
the character of our rugged friend should suffer,) Jo entertained a most
profound belief in the immense advantage of muscular strength and vigour
in general, and of his own prowess in particular. Although not quite so
gigantic a man as his captain, he was nearly so, and, being a bold
self-reliant fellow, he felt persuaded in his own mind that he could
thrash him, if need were. In fact, Jo was convinced that there was no
living creature under the sun, human or otherwise, that walked upon two
legs, that he could not pommel to death with more or less ease by means
of his fists alone. And in this conviction he was not far wrong. Yet
it must not be supposed that Jo Bumpus was a boastful man or a bully.
Far from it. He was so thoroughly persuaded of his invincibility, that
he felt there was no occasion to prove it. He therefore followed the
natural bent of his inclinations, which led him at all times to exhibit
a mild, amiable, and gentle aspect--except, of course, when he was
roused. As occasion for being roused was not wanting in the South Seas
in those days, Jo's amiability was frequently put to the test. He
sojourned, while there, in a condition of alternate calm and storm; but
riotous joviality ran, like a rich vein, through all his chequered life,
and lit up its most sombre phases like gleams of light on an April day.