every day; but she had been delayed. The skipper said as how he wouldn't leave his cruising ground so long as there was a bit of biscuit aboard big enough to hold a weevil. Well, at last we runs out altogether, and for the last two days we had nothing but a chaw of tobacco; but the third morning we collared a small schooner with a cargo of calavances, and the skipper bought the whole lot."

"What are calavances?" asked Tom.

"Calavances are a small bean, which is supposed to be the most fattening thing in this world. At the end of the week I had put on two stone in weight; all the men were complaining they couldn't button the waistbands of their pants; they used to carry away the ratlines going up aloft. However, just as we were getting to the end of the calavances, the slaver came out of the river. We sighted her at daybreak, chased all that day, and overhauled her at sunset. She had 700 slaves on board, and my share of the prize money was £28. I was only captain of the foretop then, and I believe if we had had to hang on another week some of us would have busted."

"Do the slavers ever show fight?" asked Tom interestedly.

"Do they ever show fight?" repeated the boatswain, "well, yes, they do. When I were boatswain of the Shark-it was just after I was warranted-we were watching a vessel called the Maritana; she was known to have beaten off the boats of an American frigate called the Delaware. The skipper he sends for me and says, says he, Mr. Pike, I intends to cut that 'ere vessel out, do you think you can do it?' Well, sir,' says I, if I can't I don't know who can.' 'Just the very answer I should have expected from you, Mr. Pike,' says he; 'well, take the pinnace and two cutters, and do the best you can.' I goes away at dark, and I orders the cutters to board one on each quarter. In the meantime I goes right ahead in the pinnace, and lays on my oars with my head pointed

towards the Maritana. I hears the cutters get alongside, then I hears some shots fired, and some shouting, and I tells the men to give way like hell. We runs under her bows, and before you could say knife we were all on her forecastle; there was no one expecting us, as they were all busy aft. I waits until my men was ready, then we all capers aft, and, in less time than it takes to tell, we had every one of them overboard. There was a good deal of loss though; of the crew of forty-seven on board the prize all but three were either killed or drowned, including the Captain of her; the first cutter lost four men killed and three wounded; the second cutter, two killed and seven wounded; the pinnace's crew had three killed and five wounded, including myself in four places; but we had got our prize with 980 slaves, and when I went on board and reported myself, the Captain he pulls off his gold watch and chain and presents it to me before the whole ship's company, and I have got it hanging up at home now."

"By George! I would like to be in a fight like that," said Tom, carried away with enthusiasm.

Mr. Pike had never had such a good listener; and yarn after yarn he spun, each one more miraculous than the last, and in all of which he was the central figure.

Tom had to leave him at last to keep the last dog watch; but when he turned in that night it was to dream of desperate boat actions against fearful odds, in which he was sometimes attacking, sometimes attacked, and, occasionally, a slave.

CHAPTER XII.

BRITISH MIDSHIPMEN

He that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.

Proverbs.

WITHIN a week, the Briseis' complement of officers had joined.

The Captain's name was Boyle, a dashing Irishman, who bore a good reputation as a prime seaman and a smart officer. He was a young man for the rank he held, having won two of his steps for gallantry in action.

Willoughby was second lieutenant, and Stukeley third, the latter being considered one of the laziest officers in the service.

The gun-room was increased by five additional members, comprising a young sub-lieutenant, Browne; an assistant-paymaster, called Hall; two senior midshipmen, Dashwood and Russell; and last, not least, Lord Rupert Dayrell. The latter had written to Tom Marston, directly he saw his appointment, to say that he did not care for the ship he was in, and intended to apply for the Briseis, and, as his uncle was First Lord of the Admiralty, he had not much doubt but that he should get it. A few days afterwards he made his appearance.

Tom was delighted. Dayrell had been his greatest friend on board the Britannia, and they soon became. close chums on board the Briseis.

Browne and Dashwood, the senior midshipman, had lately been paid off from the flag-ship in the Mediterranean, and went in for the exquisite school of the new Navy, affecting white kid gloves and white waistcoats on Sunday, and possessing tastes of rather an effeminate nature.

sees

Dashwood was not altogether a nice boy. He was nearly useless as a seaman, but very strict with the men, reporting them for every trivial offence, and going out of his way to get them into trouble. The blue-jackets hated him; for, though Jack will put up with any amount of harshness from an officer who knows his work and is consistent, yet no through an impostor more quickly than he, and he despises any one who gets a bastard reputation for being smart through laying the blame on others and getting them punished. In the mess, Dashwood asserted his rights, as senior midshipman, by bullying the youngsters whenever he felt inclined; at other times, spoiling them by encouraging them in undue familiarity and feeding them up with unwholesome extras, such as port wine and biscuits in the afternoon, sardines for supper, jam for tea, etc.

Russell was Dashwood's exact antithesis. Being a lad of high spirits, who would have been more at home on the forecastle than the quarter-deck, he was never satisfied with looking on, but was always anxious to take part in any work. As midshipman of a top he worked as hard as any man in it, and, as his ambition was to be a thorough practical seaman, his chief delight was in pointing a rope, stropping a block, or doing some such job of work with his hands smothered in grease and tar. He did not put on a collar, he bent one; he did not change his coat, he shifted it; he did not dress, he cleaned himself; he made a great many of his own clothes, and could, on an emergency, put a patch on his boot.

The Briseis was ready for sea; yet it seemed that there was always something more to be drawn from the dockyard.

After morning quarters, when the hands were fallen in, the first lieutenant would turn to the warrantofficers, and ask first of the gunner:

"Well, Mr. Mugford, have you all your stores on board now?"

H

"No, sir, that I have not. I have to get them new fuzes for the lifebuoy yet."

'Why, you drew them yesterday."

"No, sir, I didn't. Mr. Bughouse promised for to let me have 'em yesterday; but, when I went for 'em, he told me to come for 'em again to-day."

"Very well, take a couple of hands and go and draw them this morning. Have you got all your things complete, Mr. Pike?"

"No, sir. I have to see Mr. Bughouse about that coil of inch-and-a-half, instead of two-inch, I got the other day, and he have given me a twelve-breadth ensign instead of a fourteen-breadth."

"Why, you saw Mr. Bughouse about that before." "I know I did, sir, and he told me for certain that if I came to him last Monday, he would have it put to rights; but you can't believe a word Bughouse says." "Well, how many hands do you want?"

"Four hands will do me, sir, and I can take the coil of inch-and-a-half in the boat with me and bring off the other. The papers is all made out and signed."

"What do you want, Mr. Bennett ?"

"I want to see Mr. Bughouse about the new hydrostatical boxes for the Downton pumps. He has promised I shall have them this morning for certain."

"Very well, go in this boat, and if you don't get your stores to-day, you will have to go to sea without them; I won't send you on shore again for them."

The warrant-officers would go down to the boat and land at the dockyard, go up to Mr. Brighouse, the storekeeper, whose name they had corrupted to Bughouse, and, after five minutes' conversation with him, would walk out of the dockyard and go to a neighbouring public-house for a smoke and a glass of beer, until it was time for them to return on board.

The three warrant-officers were all " characters in their way.

Mr. Pike, the boatswain, was a good seaman, and