oft in the foretop sighted
something in the distance.

"Sail ho!" he cried, "on our lee bow."

Every eye was cocked as we peered over the bulwarks, and every ear
strained to catch what followed.

"Where away?" hailed the commodore, who was walking up and down aft,
taking a constitutional after his lunch, I suppose. "What do you make
it out to be?"

"A boat adrift, sir, I think," replied the lookout-man, stopping to have
another good look at the object. "It's well away on our lee bow, sir,
and we're passing it abeam now."

"Very good, my man," said the commodore; and, turning to the officer of
the watch, he added, "Square the yards, Mr Osborne, and we'll run down
and see what it is."

This order was soon carried out; when, with our sticks braced round to
the brisk breeze, which had shifted to the westward since the thunder-
storm, we were soon bowling down before it, our sails bellied out to
their utmost in the direction indicated by the lookout-man in the
foretop, who was now aided by the eyes of half a dozen midshipmen or
more, all eagerly scanning the horizon ahead with all sorts of
telescopes and binoculars.

"Lookout-man!" hailed the commodore after a bit, "how does the boat bear
now?"

"Dead on the weather bow, sir," returned the man the next instant.
"We're about a couple o' mile off her, sir."

The commodore then addressed the quarter-master aft.

"Luff up!" he cried--"half a point will do; and, Mr Osborne, take a
pull at your lee braces. That will do--steady!"

The ship having good way upon her, we soon overhauled the drifting boat,
which we could make out presently quite clearly from the deck.

Nearer and nearer we approached it, until we could look down right into
it and see a number of figures, all of whom, however, were motionless.

"Begorrah!" cried Mick, who stood near me in the fore-chains, ready with
a rope to chuck down into the little craft as we surged alongside it, as
indeed were several others also, like prepared, forwards; "they've bin
havin' a divvle ov a row, or foightin', or somethin', sure; fur Tom,
look thare, me bhoy--can't ye say some soords or a pair of cutlashes or
somethin' like 'em oonder the afther-thwart theer?"

CHAPTER TWENTY.

"JOCKO."

"I believe I do, Mick," I said, squinting down as eagerly as himself
into the boat, near to which the ship was gradually sidling up, her way
having been checked by her being brought up to the wind and the maintop-
sail ba