by the shock, and darted off some fifty yards in an opposite direction; returning, however, very shortly afterwards to his prey.

Tom put his arm round Dayrell and assisted him while the boat was being rapidly lowered. As soon as it touched the water, Tom clambered into it, immediately afterwards leaning over and lifting in Dayrell.

Scarcely had the latter's body left the water, than the shark came up with a rush, and so narrowly missed seizing him, that he almost seemed to touch Dayrell's drooping limbs as Tom held him in his arms, and, although dark, Tom could discern his white belly. as he turned over on his back to snatch his prey.

Strange to relate, the shock had no bad effect on Dayrell, who gradually improved in health from that night. As he grew stronger so did his old spirits return; his jealous suspicions of Tom cutting him out. with Nellie disappeared, and his affection for him increased, and did not require the stimulus the recollection of that night in Sierra Leone harbour would always give it.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THEY WHO GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.

Psalm cvii. 23, 24.

A FEW days after Dayrell had been discharged from the sick list, the Camel, a store ship, came into Sierra Leone with orders to take away the Briseis's prize

crews.

They were sorry to leave Sierra Leone, where they had been excessively happy during their long stay, and had made some good friends. The Governor was

very sorry to lose the two midshipmen, as he had become much attached to them, and their place would be difficult to fill at Government House.

He was losing Danvers too. This last bout of fever had pulled him down a good deal, and Danvers had decided to return to England.

It was very lucky for him he did so.

He arrived just as his uncle was made Colonial Secretary, and there being a vacancy for a Governor at one of our newly annexed possessions, he offered it to Danvers, who accepted it.

His administration was a greater success than it had been up the Halychula River. The affairs of the colony were in a very unsatisfactory condition when. he arrived, and he showed so much tact and ability in organising the Government, that he was decorated with the K.C.M.G., and soon after promoted to a better Governorship. At the latter place he married the only daughter of a rich merchant, and settled down into the ordinary type of a Colonial Governor. His butterfly life in the Guards and his romantic loves were buried in oblivion, and he became a highly respectable though rather stout member of society.

But this is a digression.

The blue-jackets were just as loath to leave Sierra Leone as the officers. They had enjoyed their absence from the ship equally well, though not perhaps quite in the same manner, as the two midshipmen.

The Camel was carrying provisions to the squadron. She went the rounds of the whole station every three or four months; filled each ship up with provisions. and stores, and then returned to the Island of Ascension for more. It was an uninteresting and monotonous business, comparable to that of a horse going round and round a mill.

Dayrell and Marston rather liked taking a passage in her, as it gave them the opportunity of meeting many old friends, amongst them being Howard, who was first lieutenant of a gun-boat, with whom they

dined, and had a long yarn of all that had taken place since they last met.

Off Lagos they found the Commodore's ship lying at anchor; and as soon as the Commodore heard of Dayrell and Marston being on board the Camel, he sent for them, and having first complimented them on the way they had captured the two slavers, which Captain Boyle had reported in eulogistic terms, he appointed them both to his ship, which was at that time very short of officers.

Neither of them had anticipated this change, and at first they did not like it; but on second thoughts, remembering that the time was drawing near for them to pass for the rank of lieutenant, they saw certain advantages in the change.

The Commodore was an able officer; but irritable, impatient, and quick-tempered. Directly any one displeased him, or in his opinion came short of the proper standard of efficiency, he exchanged him into some other ship; the consequence was that the Serpent was the worst disciplined and slackest ship on the station. Her officers never knew when they might not be discharged from her at an hour's notice, and therefore took no interest in the ship; and the men, being unknown to the officers, took every advantage of them, and there was an absence of that reciprocal feeling of trust and confidence which is necessary for the well-being of every man-of-war.

The Serpent never remained for more than a few days at any one place; but was always rushing off from one end of the station to the other. She was not to be compared to the Briseis for comfort, though Dayrell and Marston both got on excellently well with the Commodore, who took a great fancy to them.

As Tom had taken a first-class certificate out of the Britannia, and Dayrell a second-class only, the former had gained on the latter and had less time to serve before passing for sub-lieutenant; consequently the date they should both go up for their examination

was the same. They were both first-rate seamen for their time in the service, and had no difficulty in obtaining first-class certificates when they were examined.

Three days after they had passed, the Briseis arrived. It was the first time they had seen her since they left to navigate the prizes to Sierra Leone.

There were many changes on board. Russell had been promoted and sent to a gun-boat. Stukeley, the third lieutenant, and Dashwood, Tom's old enemy, had died; while the first lieutenant, "Bullocky Joe," and Otter had been invalided and sent home for the preservation of their lives. They had also lost seventeen men by death, and many others had been invalided, and the remainder of the ship's company were enervated and debilitated by their long sojourn on the West Coast of Africa.

The Briseis had been in commission nearly four years, and during all that time she had only been once to St. Helena, and twice to Ascension; the remainder of the time had been spent on the most unhealthy part of the station.

The Serpent had been even longer away from England; but then she had not had such a monotonous time, and had constantly recruited the health of the ship's company at Ascension, and had had so many changes that scarcely any of the original crew were now on board.

Both ships should have been sent home and paid off months before. Each mail the papers contained some article announcing that a ship was about to be commissioned to relieve one or the other; but "out of sight, out of mind," is a proverb which is put into practice more at the Admiralty than anywhere, and the ships remained on until the men were SO weakened in constitution, that they were unable to withstand the deleterious effects of the malarious climate.

On hearing of the bad state of health the crew of

the Briseis was in, and taking into consideration the number of deaths that had occurred, the Commodore took upon himself the responsibility of ordering her to Ascension, and after a short stay there, to proceed direct to England.

He sent for Dayrell and Marston, and handed them their commissions as acting lieutenants, and appointed them to the Briseis to fill the vacancies caused by the invaliding of Mr. Woodruff and the death of Stukeley.

This was an unlooked for piece of luck, and a very kind act on the part of the Commodore, for his own ship was very short of officers, and when that is the case, people in authority are not given to consider the interests of private individuals. By sending Dayrell and Marston home, he gave them the opportunity of passing their final examination for lieutenant at once, and getting the thing over, instead of having it hanging over their heads for months.

Captain Boyle was very glad to get his two favourite midshipmen back to his ship as lieutenants, and received them very warmly when they came on board.

Everything was much changed. Willoughby was now first lieutenant, and Devereux senior midshipman. Several new midshipmen had joined, and there were some changes amongst the ward-room officers.

The individuals had changed as much as the complement of the ship. Few who saw Tom now would recognise in the bronzed, powerful, massive-framed man the active young stripling who joined the ship at Woolwich four years before. He was over six feet in height, broad-shouldered, and deep-chested, with limbs like the Apollo Belvidere, not too light for strength, nor too ponderous for agility. From constant exercise his muscles were as hard as steel bands, and his bare trunk was a sight sculptors would have joyed What, in other people, are broad, smooth

to see.