ior position in the household.

Major Bonnet was now very much engaged and a good deal disturbed, for he
found that projected sailing, even in one's own craft, is not always
smooth sailing. He was putting his vessel in excellent order, and was
fitting her out generously in the way of stores and all manner of
nautical needfuls, not forgetting the guns necessary for defence in
these somewhat disordered times, and his latest endeavours were towards
the shipping of a suitable crew. Seafaring men were not scarce in the
port of Bridgetown, but Major Bonnet, now entitled to be called
"Captain," was very particular about his crew, and it took him a long
time to collect suitable men.

As he was most truly a landsman, knowing nothing about the sea or the
various intricate methods of navigating a vessel thereupon, he was
compelled to secure a real captain--one who would be able to take charge
of the vessel and crew, and who would do, and have done, in a thoroughly
seamanlike manner, what his nominal skipper should desire and ordain.

This absolutely necessary personage had been secured almost as soon as
the vessel had been purchased, before any of the rest of the crew had
signed ship's articles; and it was under his general supervision that
the storing and equipment had been carried on. His name was Sam Loftus.
He was a big man with a great readiness of speech. There were, perhaps,
some things he could not do, but there seemed to be nothing that he was
not able to talk about. As has been said, the rest of the crew came in
slowly, but they did come, and Major Bonnet told his daughter that when
he had secured four more men, it was his intention to leave port.

"And sail for Jamaica?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, yes," he said, with an affectionate smile, "and I will leave you
with your Uncle Delaplaine, where you can stay while I make some little
cruises here and there."

"And so I am really to go?" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.

"Really to go," said he.

"And what may I pack up?" she asked, thinking of her step-mother.

"Not much," he said, "not much. We will be able to find at Spanish Town
something braver in the way of apparel than anything you now possess. It
will be some days before we sail, and I shall have quietly conveyed on
board such belongings as you need."

She was very happy, and she laughed.

"Yours will be an easily laden ship," said she, "for you take in with
you no great store of goods for traffic. But I su