s contemptible creature,
"but I didn't come to sea to be bullied by you, so I shall withdraw from
your exceedingly objectionable neighbourhood; and if ever we reach
England I'll make you smart for your barbarous treatment of me, my good
fellow."

Saying which, he slunk away back in no very dignified fashion to the
most comfortable spot he could find in the bows of the boat, and rolled
himself snugly up once more in the shawls and blankets which the women
had eagerly given up for his benefit when he was first fished out of the
water.

CHAPTER NINE.

THE "ALBATROSS."

All that day the launch continued to scud before the gale; getting
pooped so often that it was the work of two men to keep her free of
water.

Toward evening Mr Bowles came aft, reporting himself "all ataunto" once
more, and ready to resume duty. He still looked pale and haggard, but
was as keen and determined as ever; and he demurred so vehemently to
Captain Staunton's suggestion that he would be all the better for a
whole night between the blankets that the skipper was at last compelled
to give in, which he did with--it must be confessed--a feeling of the
greatest relief that he now had so trusty a coadjutor to share the
watches with him; for since the springing up of the gale the poor fellow
had scarcely closed his eyes.

The night shut down "as dark as a wolf's mouth,"--to use the skipper's
own metaphor; and the chief mate took the first watch, with Bob on the
look-out.

It must have been somewhere about six bells, or 11 p.m., when the latter
was startled by seeing the crest of the sea ahead of him breaking in a
cloud of phosphoric foam over some object directly in line with the
launch's bow.

"Keep her away, sir!" he yelled. "Starboard, for your life, _starboard_
hard!"

Up went the boat's helm in an instant; and as she dragged heavily on the
steep incline of the wave which had just swept under her, Bob saw
floating close past a large mass of tangled wreckage, consisting of a
ship's lower-mast with the heel of the topmast still in its place, and
yards, stays, shrouds, braces, etcetera, attached. Dark as was the
night there was no difficulty whatever in identifying the character of
the wreckage, for it floated in a regular swirl of lambent greenish
phosphorescent light.

"Stand by with the boat-hook, there forward," shouted Mr Bowles, "and
see if you can get hold of a rope's-end. If you can, we will anchor to
the wreck; and we sha