pennant up, lively
now; damme, I can't rest you boys a minute, but ye run to seed an'
sodgerin'!"

A moment of suspense; to proceed to--where? The Old Man was on deck
now, with code-book in hand, open at the 'geographicals.'
"'B--D--S--T,'" sang out the Mate. "B.D.S.T.," repeated the Old Man,
whetting a thumb and turning the pages rapidly. "B.D.S.T.,
B.D.S--Sligo! Sligo, where's that, anyway?"

"North of Ireland, sir," said M'Kellar. "Somewhere east of Broadhaven.
I wass in there once, mysel'."

"Of course, of course! Sligo, eh? Well, well! I never heard of a
square-rigger discharging there--must see about th' charts. Ask them
to repeat, Mister, and make sure."

Our query brought the same flags to the yard. B.D.S.T.--Sligo, without
a doubt--followed by a message, "Letters will be sent off as soon as
weather moderates."

There was a general sense of disappointment when our destination was
known; Ireland had never even been suggested as a possible finish to
our voyage. Another injustice!

As the afternoon wore on, the wind lessened and hauled into the north.
The bleak storm-clouds softened in outline, and broke apart to show us
promise of better weather in glimpses of clear blue behind. Quickly,
as it had got up, the harbour sea fell away. The white curling crests
no longer uprose, to be caught up and scattered afar in blinding
spindrift. Wind, their fickle master, had proved them false, and now
sought, in blowing from a new airt, to quell the tumult he had bidden
rise.

With a prospect of letters--of word from home--we kept an eager
look-out for shore-craft putting out, and when our messenger arrived
after a long beat, the boat warp was curled into his hand and the side
ladder rattled to his feet before he had time to hail the deck. With
him came a coasting pilot seeking employ, a voluble Welshman, who did
not leave us a minute in ignorance of the fact that "he knew th' coast,
indeed, ass well ass he knew Car--narvon!"

Then to our letters. How we read and re-read, and turned them back and
forward, scanning even the post-mark for further news!

* * * * *

Early astir, we had the lee anchor at the bows before dawn broke. A
bright, clear frosty morning, a cloudless sky of deepest blue, the land
around wrapped in a mantle of snow--a scene of tranquillity in sea and
sky, in marked contrast to the bitter weather of the day before. At
the anchorage all was haste and sti