TER TWO.

THE DEPARTURE--THE SEA--MY COMPANIONS--SOME ACCOUNT OF THE WONDERFUL
SIGHTS WE SAW ON THE GREAT DEEP--A DREADFUL STORM AND A FRIGHTFUL WRECK.

It was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her canvas to
the breeze and sailed for the regions of the south. Oh, how my heart
bounded with delight as I listened to the merry chorus of the sailors
while they hauled at the ropes and got in the anchor! The captain
shouted; the men ran to obey; the noble ship bent over to the breeze,
and the shore gradually faded from my view; while I stood looking on,
with a kind of feeling that the whole was a delightful dream.

The first thing that struck me as being different from anything I had
yet seen during my short career on the sea, was the hoisting of the
anchor on deck and lashing it firmly down with ropes, as if we had now
bid adieu to the land for ever and would require its services no more.

"There, lass!" cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar, giving the fluke of
the anchor a hearty slap with his hand after the housing was
completed--"there, lass, take a good nap now, for we sha'n't ask you to
kiss the mud again for many a long day to come!"

And so it was. That anchor did not "kiss the mud" for many long days
afterwards; and when at last it did, it was for the last time!

There were a number of boys in the ship, but two of them were my special
favourites. Jack Martin was a tall, strapping, broad-shouldered youth
of eighteen, with a handsome, good-humoured, firm face. He had had a
good education, was clever and hearty and lion-like in his actions, but
mild and quiet in disposition. Jack was a general favourite, and had a
peculiar fondness for me. My other companion was Peterkin Gay. He was
little, quick, funny, decidedly mischievous, and about fourteen years
old. But Peterkin's mischief was almost always harmless, else he could
not have been so much beloved as he was.

"Hallo, youngster!" cried Jack Martin, giving me a slap on the shoulder
the day I joined the ship, "come below and I'll show you your berth.
You and I are to be messmates; and I think we shall be good friends, for
I like the look o' you."

Jack was right. He and I, and Peterkin afterwards, became the best and
staunchest friends that ever tossed together on the stormy waves.

I shall say little about the first part of our voyage. We had the usual
amount of rough weather and calm; also we saw many strange fish rolling
in the sea, a