some surprise, that the stevedores had left a
large vacant space in the centre of the main hatchway, and at the very
bottom of the ship; and he had once or twice wondered, during the course
of the afternoon, what could be the nature of the cargo for which this
space was being reserved. That it must be something heavy he knew, from
the fact that the bottom of the hold had been selected for its stowage.
The secret, however (if secret there was), came out next morning, when
several very heavy cases of peculiar shape were brought alongside; which
cases turned out to contain twelve steel 14-pounder breech-loading
rifled field-pieces, with mountings, etcetera, complete, and several
hundred rifles, sword-bayonets, etcetera, for the use of the colonial
volunteers. The nature and destination of the contents were legibly
enough set forth in stencilled lettering on the outside of the cases,
and they very naturally attracted a considerable amount of curiosity as
they were carefully hoisted out of the trucks and lowered into the
ship's hold. Among the onlookers Ned soon noticed a swarthy-
complexioned man, who wore gold rings in his ears, and was dressed in a
very natty suit of dark blue cloth--evidently a seaman in shore-going
togs--who manifested quite an unusual amount of interest in the cases
and their handling, and who finally climbed into the trucks and lent a
hand in the slinging of them, exhibiting in the performance of his self-
imposed task a very considerable amount of smartness and seamanlike
dexterity. And when the cases were all at length safely deposited in
their destined place on the dunnage in the bottom of the hold, the man
was observed narrowly scrutinising the ship herself--hull, spars, and
rigging--with just that appearance of intelligent and appreciative
interest which a smart seaman would be likely to bestow upon so handsome
and well-appointed a craft as was the _Flying Cloud_.

The cargo came alongside with very satisfactory rapidity, and on the
morning of the eighth day from that on which Ned joined, hopes were
entertained that the evening would see the loading of the ship completed
and the hatches put on for good and all. The swarthy-complexioned man
had been seen on the quay alongside two or three times since the loading
of the guns. He had evidently taken a fancy to the ship; and Ned was
therefore by no means surprised when, on the morning in question, he
again appeared, and, seeing Captain Blyth on