be _half-and-half_."

"That's a dear! Now I'm off--don't forget me;" and away went the wind
in a great hurry.

It was about three months after this short visit, the fleet being off
Corsica, that our hero was walking the deck, thinking that he soon
should see the object of his affections, when a privateer brig was
discovered at anchor a few miles from Bastia. The signal was made for
the boats of the fleet to cut her out; and the Admiral, wishing that his
nephew should distinguish himself somehow, gave him the command of one
of the finest boats. Now Jack was as brave as brave could be; he did
not know what danger was; he hadn't wit enough to perceive it, and there
was no doubt but he would distinguish himself. The boats went on the
service. Jack was the very first on board, cheering his men as he
darted into the closed ranks of his opponents. Whether it was that he
did not think that his head was worth defending, or that he was too busy
in breaking the heads of others to look after his own this is certain,
that a tomahawk descended upon it with such force as to bury itself in
his skull (and his was a thick skull too). The privateer's men were
overpowered by numbers, and then our hero was discovered, under a pile
of bodies, still breathing heavily. He was hoisted on board, and taken
into his uncle's cabin: the surgeon shook his head when he had examined
that of our hero.

"It must have been a most tremendous blow," said he to the Admiral, "to
have penetrated--"

"It must have been, indeed," replied the Admiral, as the tears rolled
down his cheeks; for he loved his nephew.

The surgeon having done all that his art would enable him, left the
cabin to attend to the others who were hurt; the Admiral also went on
the quarter-deck, walking to and fro for an hour in a melancholy mood.
He returned to the cabin, and bent over his nephew; Jack opened his
eyes.

"My dear fellow," said the Admiral, "how's your head now?"

"_South West and by West three-quarters West_," faintly exclaimed our
hero, constant in death, as he turned a little on one side and expired.

It was three days afterwards, as the fleet were on a wind, making for
Malta, that the bell of the ship tolled, and a body, sewed up in a
hammock and covered with the Union Jack, was carried to the gangway by
the Admiral's bargemen. It had been a dull cloudy day, with little
wind; the hands were turned up, the officers and men stood uncovered;
the Admiral in