adily enough assented; and matters being
thus far satisfactorily arranged I descended to the cockroach-haunted
den wherein we mids. ate and slept, to find that little Tom
Copplestone--who shared my watch, and who was a special favourite of
mine because of his gentle, genial disposition, and also perhaps because
he hailed from the same county as myself--having overheard the
conversation between Mr Perry and myself, had already come below and
roused the occupants of the place, who, by the smoky rays of a flaring
oil lamp that did its best to make the atmosphere quite unendurable,
were hastily arraying themselves.

"Murder!" I ejaculated, as I entered the pokey little place and got my
first whiff of its close, reeking, smoke-laden atmosphere; "put out that
abominable lamp and light a candle or two, somebody, for pity's sake.
How the dickens you fellows can manage to breathe down here I can't
understand. And, boy," to the messenger outside, "pass the word for
Cupid to bring us along some cocoa from the galley."

"There's no need," remarked Nugent, the master's mate, as he struggled
ineffectively to find the left sleeve of his jacket. "The word has
already been passed; I passed it myself when Master Cock-robin there,"
pointing to Copplestone, "came and roused us out. And, as to candles,
I'm afraid we haven't any; the rats appear to have eaten the last two we
had in the locker. However--ah, here comes the cocoa. Put the pot down
there, Cupid--never mind if it _does_ soil our beautiful damask table-
cloth, we're going to have it washed next time we go into Sierra Leone.
And just see if you can find us a biscuit or two and some butter, will
ye, you black angel? Here, avast there,"--as the black was about to
retire--"produce our best china breakfast-set before you go, you swab,
and pour out the cocoa."

The black, a herculean Krooboy, picked up when we first arrived on the
Coast, and promptly christened "Cupid" by the master's mate, who,
possibly because of sundry disappointments, had developed a somewhat
sardonic turn of humour, grinned appreciatively at Nugent's sorry jest
respecting "our best china breakfast-set," and proceeded to rout out the
heterogeneous assortment of delf and tin cups, basins, and plates that
constituted the table-equipage of the midshipmen's berth, poured out a
generous allowance of cocoa for each of us, and then departed, with the
empty bread-barge, in quest of a supply of ship's biscuit. By t