result of this interview was that I should be sent
out immediately in some sea-going ship with a "tight captain."

There was one of this description just about to sail for Basque Roads;
and, at the admiral's particular request, I was received on board as a
supernumerary, there being no vacancies in the ship. My father, who by
this time was wide awake to all my wiles, saw me on board; and then
flattering himself that I was in safe custody, took his leave and
returned to the shore. I very soon found that I was under an embargo,
and was not on any account to be allowed leave of absence.

This was pretty nearly what I expected; but I had my own resources.
I had now learned to laugh at trifles, and I cared little about this
decided step which his prudence induced him to take.

Chapter XI

"Our boat has one sail,
And the helmsman is pale;
A bold pilot, I trow
Who should follow us now,"
Shouted he.
As he spoke, bolts of death
Speck'd their path o'er the sea.
"And fear'st thou, and fear'st thou?
And see'st thou, and hear'st thou?
And drive we not free
O'er the terrible sea,
I and thou?"

SHELLEY.

The reader may think I was over fastidious when I inform him that
I cannot describe the disgust I felt at the licentious impurity of
manners which I found in the midshipmen's berth; for although my
connection with Eugenia was not sanctioned by religion or morality,
it was in other respects pure, disinterested, and, if I may use the
expression, patriarchal, since it was unsullied by inconstancy, gross
language, or drunkenness. Vicious I was, and I own it to my shame; but
at least my vice was refined by Eugenia, who had no fault but one.

As soon as I had settled myself in my new abode, with all the comfort
that circumstances would permit, I wrote a long letter to Eugenia,
in which I gave an exact account of all that had passed since our
separation; I begged her to come down to Portsmouth and see me;
told her to go to the "Star and Garter," as the house nearest the
water-side, and consequently where I should be the soonest out of
sight after I had landed. Her answer informed me that she should be
there on the following day.

The only difficulty now was to get on shore. No eloquence of mine, I
was sure, would induce the first lieutenant to relax his Cerberus-like
guard over me. I tried the experiment, however; begged very hard "to
be allowed to go on shore to procure certain articles