nt--Our picnic
breaks up.

"Mother had a good many friends, old shipmates of hers and father's, but
most of them having families of their own were not able to do much for
me. I was now, however, big enough to go to sea, and of course there
was no question but that I should be a sailor. England had been at
peace for some time, but she and France were once more at loggerheads,
and ships were fitting out with all despatch at every port in the
kingdom. There was no difficulty therefore in finding a ship for me,
and an old messmate of father's, Andrew Barton, having volunteered on
board the `Juno' frigate, of thirty-two guns, took me with him. He was
rated as captain of the maintop and I as ship's boy, having to do duty
as powder-monkey. I quickly found myself at home, and those who didn't
know that I had been to sea before, wondered how well I knew my way
everywhere about the decks and aloft. I soon took the lead among the
other boys, many of them much bigger and older than myself. `Why, one
would suppose that you had been born at sea,' said Tom Noakes, a big
hulking fellow, who never could tell which was the stem, and which the
stern. `And so I was,' I answered. I then told him how many storms and
battles I had been in, and all that I remembered about my early life.
This made my messmates treat me with wonderful respect, and they never
thought of playing me the tricks they did each other.

"Our frigate was bound out to the Mediterranean to join the fleet under
Lord Hood. She was, I should have said, commanded by Captain Samuel
Hood, a relation of the Admiral's. We knew that we should have plenty
of work to do. When we sailed, it was understood that an English force
had possession of Toulon, which was besieged by the republicans, who had
collected a large army round the city, but it was supposed that they
would be kept at bay by the English and royalists. We had been cruising
off Toulon, when we were despatched to Malta to bring up supernumeraries
for the fleet. We were detained, however, at the island for a
considerable time, by foul winds. At length we sailed, and steered
direct for Toulon. We arrived abreast of the harbour one evening, some
time after dark. The captain, anxious to get in, as we had no pilot on
board, nor any one acquainted with the dangers of the place, stood on,
hoping by some means or other, to find his way. The officers with their
night-glasses were on the look-out for our ships,