r the truth of it, and beg
him to intercede with the captain and first lieutenant. I know that
although we should be punished, they will only laugh; but I will pretend
that Easthupp is killed, and we are frightened out of our lives. That
will be it; and then let's get on board one of the fruit boats, sail in
the night for Palermo, and then we'll have a cruise for a fortnight, and
when the money is all gone we'll come back."

"That's a capital idea, Ned, and the sooner we do it the better."

They were two very nice lads.

_IV.--Jack Leaves the Service_

At the end of four years at sea, Jack had been cured of his philosophy
of equality. The death of his mother, and a letter from the old family
doctor that his father was not in his senses, decided him to return
home.

"It is fortunate for you that the estate is entailed," wrote Dr.
Middleton, "or you might soon be a beggar, for there is no saying what
debts your father might, in his madness, be guilty of. He has turned
away his keepers, and allowed poachers to go all over the manor. I
consider that it is absolutely necessary that you should immediately
return home and look after what will one day be your property. You have
no occasion to follow the profession with your income of L8,000 per
annum. You have distinguished yourself, now make room for those who
require it for their subsistence."

Captain Wilson approved of the decision, and Jack left the service. At
his request, his devoted admirer Mesty--an abbreviation of
Mephistopheles--an African, once a prince in Ashantee and now the cook
of the midshipmen's mess, was allowed to leave the service and accompany
our hero to England as his servant.

From the first utterances of Jack on the subject of liberty and
equality, he had won Mesty's heart, and in a hundred ways the black had
proved his fidelity and attachment. His delight at going home with his
patron was indescribable.

Jack had not written to his father to announce his arrival, and when he
reached home he found things worse than he expected.

His father was at the mercy of his servants, who, insolent and
insubordinate, robbed, laughed at, and neglected him. The waste and
expense were enormous. Our hero, who found how matters stood, soon
resolved what to do.

He rose early; Mesty was in the room, with warm water, as soon as he
rang.

"By de power, Massa Easy, your fader very silly old man!"

"I'm afraid so," replied Jack. "How are they getting on