to be worthless; and, moreover, we shall have no use for them
there. Therefore, as we must sell, we are ready to take the best
terms we can get."

When they returned to the inn, after an absence of two hours, they
found that the landlord had sold the horses, for a sum nearly
approaching their value, the gentlemen being as anxious to purchase
them as they were to sell. The next day, they bought three or four
rolls of west country cloth, and a supply of clothes suitable to
their condition, together with trunks for their carriage. All these
were sent down to the ship, in the course of the afternoon, and
they themselves embarked late in the evening, as she was to set
sail at daybreak.

The lads, accustomed to spacious and airy rooms, were quite taken
aback at the small and stuffy cabin allotted to their joint use,
and slept but badly, for the loading of the ship continued by
torchlight, until within an hour of the time of their departure.
After tossing about for some hours in their narrow beds, they were
glad to go on deck, and to plunge their heads into a pail of water,
and were then, after combing their long hair, able to take an
interest in what was passing round them.

The sailors were busy; stowing away the cargo last received,
tidying the decks, and coiling down the ropes. There were but few
persons on the quay, for those who had been engaged in loading the
cargo had gone off to bed, as soon as the last bale was on board.

In half an hour the sailors began to hoist the sails, the hawsers
were thrown off, and, with a gentle wind blowing aft, the ship
glided along past the shore, being helped by the tide, which had
begun to ebb half an hour before. The lads were greatly interested
in watching the well-wooded slope on the left, with the stately
ruins of Tintern Abbey rising above the trees. Then they passed the
round fort, at the water's edge, on their right, and issued out
from Southampton Water into the broad sheet between the island and
the mainland.

It was dotted with sails; fishing craft and coasters for the most
part, but with some larger ships bound from the east to
Southampton, and others that had come in through the Solent. This
was very entertaining to the boys, and they were still more pleased
when they saw the fortifications of Portsmouth, with cannon
pointing seaward, and with many vessels riding in the strait by the
side of the town.

"That fort would give the French or the Dutch a hot reception,