ngster, and a pleasant trip to you."

Saying this, he stepped into the boat alongside, and returned to the
cutter, leaving me in possession of my new-fledged honours. The
pilot-boat belonged to some place on the Dorsetshire coast, and had
drifted up off Saint Alban's Head, where we found her. The Needles were
just in sight ahead, or rather the end of the Isle of Wight, off which
they extend, so it seemed an easy matter to run in; but I suspect,
without Thole I should have made some slight mistake or other, which
might have laid my charge on the rocks. Thole showed me the proper
marks, and by keeping the two lighthouses on Hurst Point in one, we ran
in between the Needles and the shoal of the shingles. I felt very
grand, as I walked the deck with my spy-glass under my arm, and watched
the chalk-white cliffs of Alum Bay rising high above us on the right,
and the curiously-coloured strata of sand at the eastern end of it, the
wood-covered heights of Freshwater, and the little town of Yarmouth; on
the left, the old castle of Hurst, and the long extent of the forest
shores of Hampshire, with the picturesque town of Lymington rising among
the green trees and green fields. I had, I confess, a feeling--grand as
I had to appear--that I knew less than anybody else on board about
affairs nautical; but modesty is the frequent companion of merit, and
though I was very little, I might have been remarkably good.

By this time one of the prisoners began to come to himself, and his
astonishment was only equalled by his alarm when, on sitting up and
rubbing his eyes, he found himself surrounded by strange faces, and
discovered that the craft was running up the Solent Channel. My uniform
at once told him the truth.

"Where's Jim?" he asked, on seeing only his drunken companion near him.

"Jim--I don't know who you mean," answered Thole. "If it was any one
you left on deck, master, why, all I can say is, he wasn't there when we
boarded you."

On hearing this announcement, he started to his feet, instantly throwing
off all appearance of drunkenness, except that his eye was haggard and
his cheek discoloured. He was a man of about fifty, of a stout build
and a weather-beaten, bronzed face, rather full and good-humoured,
certainly not giving one the notion that he was an habitual drunkard.
His hair was somewhat long, and dishevelled and grizzled, from exposure
to the atmosphere.

"What! Jim not on board?" he exclaimed, rushing o