wain; but I like the sound; it keeps
up my spirits. When I get out of sorts, I repeat to myself: `Fletcher
Yallop, Esquire, be a man; be worthy of your future position in society
when you take your place among the nobility of the land, and perhaps
write M.P. after your name,'--and in an instant I am myself again, and
patiently bear the rubs and frowns to which even warrant-officers are
subjected. In truth, though I wish you not to repeat it, Mr Rayner, I
may become a baronet; and I always look with trembling interest at the
Gazette, to see if a certain person, whose heir I am, has been raised to
that dignity."

I ventured to ask the boatswain on what he grounded his hopes of
fortune.

"That is a secret, Mr Rayner," he replied, "which I must not divulge,
even to you; but you would not doubt my word, I am sure. That must be
sufficient for the present; and I must request you not to make the
matter a subject of conversation among your messmates. They would not
enter into my feelings as you do."

I found, however, that Mr Yallop had been equally confidential to Tommy
Peck, though he had not ventured to talk of his hopes either to Mudge or
Stanford. Tom and I, on comparing notes, came to the conclusion that
the boatswain was under a hallucination; though, as it was a very
harmless one, and afforded him intense satisfaction without in any way
interfering with his duty, we agreed that it was as well to let him
enjoy it. He was, indeed, a first-rate seaman and an excellent
boatswain, though he handled the rope's end pretty freely when any of
the ship's boys or ordinary seamen neglected their duty. He was a
broadly built man, with enormous black whiskers; and no one would have
supposed that he possessed a single grain of romance in his composition.
He had an eagle eye, and a sun-burned, weather-beaten countenance; but
I believe he had as tender a heart as any man in the ship.

Nothing of importance occurred till we sighted the island against which
we had so nearly run. Standing in with the lead going, we found good
anchorage in a wide bay, protected by a high point of land on one side
and a reef on the other. The captain wishing to survey the island, and
the weather being fine, he ordered his gig to be manned, and, much to my
satisfaction, told me to be ready to accompany him. We took a supply of
provisions for the day, as we did not expect to be back till late in the
evening.

While the first lieutenant and maste