did not seem to have a man on board her as far as I
could see. Perhaps these dead beggars here plundered her and abandoned
her after murdering their captain and officers!"

"Perhaps so," agreed our chief; "but, in any case, whether they have met
with their just deserts or not--and for my part I am inclined to believe
the former--we must give them Christian burial. I think, Mr Osborne,
you had better let their boat be their coffin."

"By far the best plan, sir," put in the doctor, on the commodore looking
towards him. "The lightning has so decomposed the corpses that it would
be impossible to handle them, and it would be detrimental to the health
of those touching them, too."

This decided the commodore, who thereupon gave orders that some pigs of
ballast should be put within the boat, and that it should be afterwards
boarded over with a few rough planks.

This, Mr Chips the carpenter, with the aid of his mates, quickly
accomplished; and then the boat, with its ghastly contents now happily
concealed from view, was drawn up half out of the water, suspended from
one of the davits, and holes bored in the bottom.

When all was ready, the `assembly' was sounded, and we all stood
bareheaded along the deck, drawn up as at `divisions,' while the
chaplain read a brief funeral service; and, on the conclusion of this,
the painter that held up the boat being severed, the coffin-craft sank
slowly below the surface to the fathomless abysses of one of the deepest
parts of the Atlantic--for I heard the navigating officer tell Mr
Osborne that soundings had been got here showing a depth of over four
miles.

The funeral finished, the hands were piped down; and then, our yards
being squared again, we bore away once more for the Azores, reaching
Saint Michael's a few days later, in company with the rest of the
squadron.

This island, like the majority of the Azores, is of volcanic origin;
and, looking at it from the sea, even when near in, it is not a very
picturesque object, the conical hills and extinct craters giving it a
monotonous, if mountainous, aspect.

We anchored off Ponta Delgado, about three-quarters of a mile off shore,
in twenty-five fathom water, and, as we stopped there a couple of days,
we were allowed short leave, each watch in turn, to land and see the
sights.

These, beyond the flowers, which were beautiful from the effects of the
volcanic soil, did not amount to much; and as the inhabitants are all
Portug