absolutely
necessary to my comfort."

"No, no," said Mr Talbot, "I am too old a hand to be caught that way.
I have my orders, and I would not let my father go on shore, if the
captain ordered me to keep him on board; and I tell you, in perfect
good humour, that out of this ship you do not go, unless you swim on
shore, and that I do not think you will attempt. Here," continued
he, "to prove to you there is no ill-will on my part, here is the
captain's note."

It was short, sweet, and complimentary, as it related to myself, and
was as follows:--

"Keep that d----d young scamp, Mildmay, on board."

"Will you allow me, then," said I, folding up the note, and returning
it to him without any comment, "will you allow me to go on shore under
the charge of the sergeant of marines?"

"That," said he, "would be just as much an infringement of my orders
as letting you go by yourself. You cannot go on shore, sir."

These last words he uttered in a very peremptory manner, and, quitting
the deck, left me to my own reflections and my own resources.

Intercourse by letter between Eugenia and myself was perfectly easy;
but that was not all I wanted. I had promised to meet her at nine
o'clock in the evening. It was now sunset; the boats were all hoisted
up; no shore boat was near, and there was no mode of conveyance but _a
la nage_, which Mr Talbot himself had suggested only as proving its
utter impracticability; but he did not know me half so well at the
time as he did afterwards.

The ship lay two miles from the shore, the wind was from the
south-west, and the tide moving to the eastward; so that, with wind
and tide both in my favour, I calculated on fetching South Sea Castle.
After dark I took my station in the fore-channels. It was the 20th of
March, and very cold. I undressed myself, made all my clothes up into
a very tight bundle, and fastened them on my hat, which retained its
proper position; then, lowering myself very gently into the water,
like another Leander I struck out to gain the arms of my Hero.

Before I had got twenty yards from the ship, I was perceived by the
sentinel, who, naturally supposing I was a pressed man endeavouring to
escape, hailed me to come back. Not being obeyed, the officer of the
watch ordered him to fire at me. A ball whizzed over my head, and
struck the water between my hands. A dozen more followed, all of them
tolerably well directed; but I struck out, and the friendly shades of
night,