ean coast and the Black Sea were impenetrably mined, so he
proceeded gaily on his voyage, shaking hands with himself for having
succeeded in running the gauntlet without a single man being hurt, or
the breaking of a rope-yarn. The crew were boisterously proud of the
night's exploit. They knew that no pecuniary benefit would be derived
by them, and were content to believe that they had been parties to a
dashing piece of devil-may-care work. The average British sailor of
that period loved to be in a scrape, and revelled in the sport of
doing any daring act to get out of it. It never occurred to the
captain that his crew might jib at the thought of undertaking so
perilous a course. He had been reared in the courage of the class to
which he belonged, and his confidence in the loyalty of his men was
not shaken by the thoughtless interjection of the chief officer, who,
in a shameful moment asked him to turn back after the first shot was
fired. He had no time to think of that senseless advice when it was
given, but it may be taken for granted the cautious mate did not add
to his popularity with the crew. He had commanded large sailing
vessels in the Australian passenger trade, and this was his first
voyage in steam. The new life, with all its varied sensationalisms,
was a mystery to him, and this little incident did not increase his
belief in the wisdom of his change from sail to steam. He explained
that the thought of what he regarded as inevitable disaster caused him
to spontaneously call out that they were firing.

"Besides," he continued, "I don't like the business; so I'll resign my
position and go back to sailing vessels again, on the completion of
the voyage."

The captain reminded him of the fine spirit of enterprise that
prevailed amongst the crew; only in a lesser degree, perhaps, than
that which caused Nelson under different circumstances to say of his
sailors, "They really mind shot no more than peas."

"Nelson may have said that, and our crew may have a fine spirit of
wholesale daring, but I don't like to be mixed up with either the
enterprise or the shot," retorted the reflective officer; and I
daresay if the captain were asked for an opinion now he would be
disposed to take the mate's view.

The thought of being pursued kept up a quiet excitement. The vessel
was pressed through the water at her maximum speed and arrived at her
first destination without any mishap to herself or the deck cargo,
which was land