you know to whom you are speaking, my man?" exclaimed the elder
midshipman. "This is Lord Reginald Oswald, and his father is the
Marquis of Elverston. His lordship will be exceedingly angry when he
hears the way you have treated his son."

Ben, turning away his head, muttered loud enough for his companion to
hear him, "He might be the marquis himself for what I care; but I'm not
his lordship's slave to come and go at his beck any more than I am
yours."

Dick looked hard at the young lord, and the recollection of their former
intercourse would have made him unwilling to do as he was asked, even
had the request been couched in less dictatorial language.

"Come, come, we will pay you a couple of shillings each, if you are
extortionate enough to refuse our first offer; but carry up our traps
you must, for the boat has to return immediately to the frigate, and we
cannot delay her."

"Extortionate or not extortionate, we are not slaves, as some poor
fellows are," said Ben, glancing at the boat's crew; "if we don't do
what you want for love, we are not going to do it for money, so you may
just carry your portmanteaus yourselves."

"Impertinent scoundrels!" exclaimed Lord Reginald to his companion.
"Just see, Voules, if that young fellow is more amenable to reason than
that sulky old boatman."

"I'll try him," answered Voules. "Come here, you young chap. If you
will carry Lord Reginald's portmanteau I will shoulder mine; we must not
delay the boat any longer."

"Don't seem as if you heard him," said Ben to Dick in a low voice, then
looking round he shouted, "Maybe the `young chap' is deaf, and if he
wasn't, he's not a mule or donkey to carry a load on his back. Let Lord
Reginald carry his own portmanteau, and just do you understand that I'm
not the man to stand any nonsense from him or from any other lord in the
land."

"There is no use in bandying words with these scoundrels!" exclaimed
Voules. "I'll carry your portmanteau, Oswald, and let my own take its
chance. I don't suppose these fellows will dare to steal it, until we
can send somebody to bring it on."

"No, no," answered Lord Reginald; "we must get Jennings to allow two of
the men to come with us, and he can explain to the captain the cause of
the delay."

Jennings, the master's assistant in charge of the boat, naturally
indignant at the way his messmates were treated, consented to this,
although he was infringing orders by so doing. He accordingly