you any idea where the master-attendant
is?"

"Yes, sir," answered the man, "he was outside on the wharf not half a
minute ago."

"Then, please, see if you can find him," said the Admiral, "and request
him to come here to me. Carline is a very decent fellow," he continued,
as soon as the messenger had vanished. "I'll get him to take you aboard
and show you the craft--he has the keys of the companion and
fore-scuttle, I believe--and you and he can talk matters over together
and decide what she will need to fit her for service. Ah! here is
Carline. Good morning, Mr Carline. This is Mr Delamere, whom I am
going to send out in charge of the _Wasp_, to see what he can do toward
putting a stop to these repeated piracies. I want you to take him
aboard and let him have a thorough good look at the schooner; after
which you and he can draw up a list of what is needed to render her fit
for the work which she will have to do. And now, good morning, Mr
Delamere. Come up to the Pen to dinner to-night; then you can report to
me what you think the craft requires."

"So the Admiral's going to fit out that smugglin' schooner and send you
to sea in her, eh?" remarked the master-attendant as soon as we got
outside.

I replied that I quite understood that to be Sir Peter's intention.

"Oh, well," he observed, "I don't know how you'll get on with her; she's
a queer one to look at, and I expect she'll want some learnin' before
you'll be able to handle her properly. Have you had any experience in a
fore-and-after?"

"Only in boats," I replied. "The barge of my old ship, the _Colossus_,
was rigged as a fore-and-aft schooner, and I've sailed her many's the
time; and I suppose all fore-and-afters are handled in pretty much the
same way. The matter of mere size won't make very much difference, I
imagine."

"Well, I expect you'll find the _Wasp_ a bit different," observed my
companion; "she's such a queer model, you see--everything about her is
exactly the opposite of what we think it should be. She has tremendous
beam, and no draught of water worth speakin' of; an outrageously long
tapering bow, and a short, squat stern--But there, you'll see her
presently. But there's no doubt about it, she can sail--there's nothing
in this harbour that can look at her; and as for working, why, I've been
told that she has been known to be round and full on the other tack
twenty seconds after puttin' the helm down!"

"Well, that is good new