so you say; and I'm
sure I have."

"That's right," said Shorts. "I wasn't thinken' that the wife was
standin' by."

The lady quietly smiled, shook hands with her husband's late chum, and
walked off towards her caravan. Captain Leigh endeavoured to draw
Shorty to tell him about his wife, but the old sailor evaded all his
questions.

"Well," said Leigh, "this has been a joyful meeting to me, and if we
never met again, God bless you!"

"The same to you, Jim," said Shorts. "Good-bye, old chap."

The two men never did meet again. James Leigh is now a prosperous
merchant, and may be seen any day in a smart-cut "frocker" and silk
hat, having his lunch at a bar, surrounded with kindred spirits,
telling his wonderful tales--some truthful, others well padded, but
all interesting.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: It may be said in passing that America at that period,
and for some years later, supplied Great Britain and other nations
with the finest and fastest ships afloat, large and small. The
Americans have always had a reputation of doing things on a large
scale. Unmistakably their vessels were bad to beat. Their crews were
well paid and well fed. They had the best cooks and stewards in the
world; but the inadequacy of their manning, and the cruel treatment of
the poor wretches who composed the crew, was a national disgrace. An
American vessel with a mediocre crew aboard was nothing short of a
hell afloat, and even with an average lot of men it was little better,
unless they had the courage and the capacity to straighten the
officers out, which was sometimes done with salutary effect.]

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