ht have escaped, I do not know, but his wound was a desperate one,
and he had apparently bled to death. We were received with loud cheers
from the frigate's decks, as in the grey dawn of morning we passed close
under her stern.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Our prize--a ship of six hundred tons, and mounting fourteen guns--
called the "Santiago," proved to be of considerable value. A prize crew
being put on board, we steered for Saint Helena, where it was possible
we might find a purchaser, and if not, Captain Oliver resolved to take
her to the Cape. Fortunately, at Saint Helena we found the officers and
crew of an Indiaman, which had been burnt at sea; and the Company's
agent there was very glad to purchase our prize, and send her on, most
of the goods being suitable to the Indian market. On concluding the
bargain, the agent presented the Captain with a couple of young tigers.
They were somewhat inconvenient pets, though they would have been
valuable had we been going home. However, as we had no others on board,
he accepted them, thinking they might serve to amuse the ship's company,
and having an idea, I believe, that they might be perfectly tamed. We
in the midshipmen's berth welcomed them with glee, and at once began to
teach them to perform all sorts of tricks. They would let us ride on
their backs, and they learned to leap through hoops and over ropes, and
they would rush round and round the deck at a rapid rate, and soon they
became the most playful, engaging creatures possible. Oldershaw was the
only person who expressed doubts about their amiability.

"If I were the Captain, I would clip their claws and draw their teeth
before I would let them play with you youngsters," he observed. "Their
tricks may be playful now, but they will serve you a scurvy one before
long, or their nature is more changed than I believe it to be."

Of course we laughed at his prognostications, and continued to amuse
ourselves with our pets as usual. The Cape was reached. We took on
board a supply of live and dead stock, having now a long run before us
across the Indian Ocean, into that part of the world where I had first
seen the light--the China Seas. We had several sheep and a supply of
hay to feed them on. Some of the men had an idea that our tamed pets
would gladly feed on the hay, but their carnivorous teeth refused to
munch it. They, however, turned suspiciously hungry glances towards the
newcomers. Oldershaw observed i