. They were immediately ordered to go
over the side into the boat.

"Are there any others who wish to volunteer on board?" asked the
lieutenant. There was some hesitation among them, when two youngsters
stepped forward in front of the rest. The master endeavoured to prevent
them from speaking; but the lieutenant telling them to say what they
wished, they at once begged that they might be allowed to join the
frigate. They were both fine active-looking lads, and seemed cut out to
make first-rate seamen. The lieutenant eyed them with approbation.

"You will do, my lads," he observed. "In a couple of years or less, you
will make active top-men."

The master was very indignant at being thus deprived of part of his
crew; but he had no remedy, and was obliged to submit.

"A pleasant voyage to you, Captain Dobson," said the lieutenant. "You
will manage to find your way up Channel without these few men I have
taken from you, and depend upon it they will be better off than they
would have been spending their time at Wapping until all their money was
gone;" a truth which even the master could not deny.

The merchantman sailed on her way, and the boat having returned on board
the frigate, was hoisted up again, when her sails being trimmed, the
_Cynthia_ once more stood on her course. The new-comers soon made
themselves at home with the crew. Those who watched the lads might have
seen an expression of astonishment pass over the countenance of one of
them when he found himself on board the _Cynthia_. Soon after this they
were brought up before the first lieutenant, to undergo the usual
examination. He soon finished with the men, who had the ordinary
account to give of themselves. One of the young lads said he belonged
to Dartmouth in England, and that having run away from home he had
joined the merchantman, from which he had volunteered, and he was
entered by the name of Ned Davis.

"And what is your name, my lad?" he asked, turning to the youngest of
the two.

"Charles Denham, sir," he answered.

"That is an English name, and you speak with an Irish accent."

"My mother was an Irish woman," answered the lad, with a blush on his
face.

"And who was your father, then?" asked the lieutenant.

"Sir, I came on board to serve his Majesty, and I hope to do so
faithfully," replied the lad, as if he had not heard the question put to
him.

"There is some of the true metal in that boy," observed the first
lieutenant