l among
the crowd who surrounded me, and who might have been, and indeed proved
to be, the boatswain, took me by the arm, and bluntly suggested that I
had better accompany him aft to Monsieur Leroy, the chief mate, and
explain my uninvited presence aboard the barque.

It was, of course, the only thing to be done, and I accordingly turned
and walked aft, with my arm still firmly grasped by the individual who
had made the suggestion, and who seemed to regard me as his prisoner,
until we reached the poop ladder, up which I was somewhat
unceremoniously hustled, to find myself in the presence of a broad,
sturdily built man of about middle height, who stood at the head of the
ladder, with his feet wide apart, lightly balancing himself to the roll
and plunge of the ship. There was a lighted lamp hanging in the
skylight some two or three fathoms away, and as this man stood between
me and the light, which somewhat feebly gleamed out through the skylight
on to the deck, I was unable to see his features or the details of his
dress; but as he stepped back and somewhat to one side to make way for
me the light fell full upon me, and, feeble as it was, it sufficed to
show him my uniform.

"Ah!" he exclaimed sharply, "a British naval officer, if I am not very
greatly mistaken. Pray, monsieur, where did you come from; and are
there any more of you?"

"I came in over the bows, a minute ago, out of a boat that--thanks to
the blind look-out that your people seem to keep--you ran down and cut
in two. And there are no more of us; I was the only occupant of the
boat," I answered.

"The only occupant of the boat!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "You
amaze me, monsieur. Is it permissible to inquire how you, a British
officer, come to be adrift, quite alone, in a boat, in the middle of the
Atlantic?"

Whereupon I told him briefly the story of the loss of the _Dolphin_,
very imprudently adding the information that she was a unit of the Slave
Squadron, and that I was her commander.

"Ah!" he commented, incisively, when I had finished. "An exceedingly
interesting story. Captain Tourville will be pleased that we have
picked you up when he hears the news to-morrow. Meanwhile, by lucky
chance we happen to have an unoccupied state-room into which I will put
you for the remainder of the night. Thoreau,"--to the man who had
conducted me aft--"take this gentleman below to the cabin; then turn out
the steward and tell him to put some beddin