-the master by my side, the baboon under the
booms, and the boy walking out of the cabin with his bread-and-butter.
As before, he again passed the baboon, who again snatched the
bread-and-butter from the boy, who again set up a squall, which again
attracted my attention. I looked round, and the baboon caught my eye,
which told him plainly that he'd soon catch what was not at all _my
eye_; and he proved that he actually thought so, for he at once put the
bread-and-butter back into the boy's hands!

"It was the only instance of which I ever knew or heard of a monkey
being capable of self-denial where his stomach was concerned, and I
record it accordingly. This poor fellow, when the ship's company were
dying of the cholera, took that disease, went through all its
gradations, and died apparently in great agony."

XVIII

THE PILOT OF PORT CREEK

The sun, low in the west, was sinking behind a heavy cloudbank, which,
to nautical eyes, portended fog at sea.

A mariner, far out in the Channel, in a small boat, was shading his eyes
with his hand and gazing towards the south-western horizon.

The lad--he was not more than eighteen--was calculated to attract
attention. He was of fine physique. His hair shone like burnished gold.
His eyes were deep blue, clear, and bright. A marked firmness was about
his mouth and chin; and when he seized the oars and rowed to counteract
the boat's leeway caused by the tide, the grip of his hands was as that
of a vice.

He was the pilot of Port Creek--no official title, but one given him by
a lawless set of men amongst whom, for many years, his lot had been
cast.

Astern, faint and indistinct, loomed the low-lying coast-line. One could
only judge it to be a wild, inhospitable shore.

The sun disappeared, and the shades of night began to fall. Suddenly the
clouds parted, and a ray of sunshine shot obliquely down towards the
south-west.

The pilot immediately muttered: "That's well!"

The bright ray had struck the dark sails of a lugger, and in her he had
recognised the craft he had come out to pilot to a fateful destination.

Smartly he ran up a small lugsail, and set his boat's head towards the
stranger. She was black hulled, and with a rakish rig that gave her the
appearance of being a fast sailer.

At the critical moment, when it appeared the lugger was about to cut him
down, the pilot suddenly ported helm, and ran his boat under the
lugger's side. Smartly he lowered his s