oth his legs shot off, and died in consequence
of his wounds?" inquired Jack.

"The same."

"And that was afterwards thrown overboard with a twenty-four pound
shot tied to his feet!" exclaimed Fritz.

"The same."

At this astonishing assertion the young men regarded Willis with an
air of apprehension.

"You think I am mad, no doubt, do you not?"

"Whatever can we think, Willis?"

"I admit that my statement looks very like it at first sight, but
still you are wrong, as you will see by-and-by. I could scarcely
believe my eyes when I saw him. 'Is that you, Bill Stubbs,' says I,
'at last?'

"'Lor love ye!' says he, 'is that you, Pilot?'

"He then took hold of my hand, and gave it such a shake as almost
wrenched it off.

"'Where in all the earth did you hail from?' he said. 'I thought you
were dead and gone?'

"'And I thought you were the same,' said I, 'and no mistake.'

"'Alive and hearty though, as you see, Pilot; only a little at sea
amongst the _mounseers_.'

"'But what about the _Hoboken_?' says I.

"'What _Hoboken_?' says he.

"'Were you not aboard a Yankee cruiser some months back?'

"'Never was aboard a Yankee in all my life,' says Bill.

"And no more he was, for he never left the _Nelson_ till she was high
and dry in Havre dockyard; so, the short and the long of it is, that I
must have been wrong in that instance."

"So I should think," remarked Fritz.

"Yet the resemblance was very remarkable; the only difference was a
carbuncle on the nose, which the real Bill has and the other has not,
but which I had forgotten."

"Like Cicero," remarked Jack.

"Another Admiral?" inquired Willis, drily.

"No, he was only an orator."

"Bill soon satisfied me that he was the very identical William Stubbs,
and that the other was only a very good imitation."

"He did not receive you with a punch in the ribs, at all events, like
the apocryphal Bill," remarked Jack.

"No; but what is more to the purpose, he told me that, after having
struggled with the terrible tempest off New Switzerland--which you
recollect--the _Nelson_ found herself at such a distance, that Captain
Littlestone resolved to proceed on his voyage, and to return again as
speedily as possible.

"'We arrived at the Cape all right,' added Bill, 'landed the New
Switzerland cargo, and sailed again with the Rev. Mr. Wolston on
board. A few days after leaving the Cape, we were pounced upon by a
French frigate; the _Nelson_, with its crew,