u, my old boy?"

"God bless you, Mr. Morton, it is you indeed--I thought 'twas a raft of
them thundering sojers bearing down upon us. I've been lying to, under
the lee of this 'ere bush, for this two hours or more, waiting for you."

The parleying between their "look-out ship," as they called Jones, and
the strangers, attracted the whole party of the Albatross to the spot;
and Morton, to his surprise, found himself and his companions surrounded
by at least thirty well-armed men. His friend Walker, the second mate of
the ship, advanced, and testifying the sincerest affection, welcomed him
once more to liberty and the company of his shipmates. Kind greetings
and hearty welcomes were given by the seamen, in their blunt,
straight-forward way, and not a few jokes were passed upon the four
liberated tars by their light-hearted messmates.

"I say, Tom Wentworth, how much _grub_ did the Don Degos allow you? a
rat a-piece, or the hind leg of a jackass among the four of you?"

"Ay," said another, "and Sundays they had a jackass's head stewed in a
lantern, and stuffed with sogers' coats."

"Yes," said a third, "and green-hide soup three times a week."

"Seasoned with brick-dust and pig-weeds," said a fourth, "by way of red
pepper and cabbages."

"Well, never mind what they've had," said old Tom Jones, interposing,
"one thing's sartain, they ha'n't had any steam, that's jist as clear
as mud."

"You're idle there, old Tom Pipes; we've had as much good wine as we
could lay our sides to. But howsomever, if you've got any white-eye in
that black betty that you're rousing out of your pea-jacket pocket, I
don't much care if I take a drop."

"Poor children!" said the boatswain, "they've been kept this whole week
in a snug, warm _caliboose_, and they'll catch cold if they're out in
the night air."

So saying, he offered his junk-bottle of New England to Morton, who
declined it, and it was then passed to his four fellow-prisoners, who
took a long, deliberate, steady aim at the stars through it in
succession.

By this time the two whale-boats and yawls, that constituted the
flotilla of the shore party, were hauled as close to the beach as the
shoalness of the water would permit, and the embarkation commenced;
Morton carrying the fair Isabella in his arms, and depositing her in the
stern-sheets of the swiftest of the boats, in which he found ample store
of boat-cloaks and pea-jackets to protect her from the night air and
heavy d