th us before, and I had quite enough of her on that
voyage."

"Thank you very much, Captain. It will indeed be a comfort to have a
cabin to myself."

Dick found that he was berthed with two young cadets, whose names, he
learned from the cards fastened over the bunks, were Latham and
Fellows.

Half an hour after the arrival of the Hollands on board, the
passengers began to pour in rapidly, and the deck of the Madras was
soon crowded with them, their friends, and their luggage. Below, all
was bustle and confusion. Men shouted angrily to stewards; women,
laden with parcels, blocked the gangway, and appealed helplessly to
every one for information and aid; sailors carried down trunks and
portmanteaus; and Mrs. Holland, when she emerged from her cabin,
having stowed away her belongings and made things tidy, congratulated
herself on having been the first on board, and so had not only avoided
all this confusion, but obtained a separate cabin, which she might not
otherwise have been able to do, as the captain would have been too
busy to devote any special attention to her.

After having handed her over to the care of the purser, Captain
Barstow had spoken to the second officer, who happened to be passing.

"Mr. Rawlinson," he said, "this is the son of my old friend, Captain
Holland. He is going out with his mother. I wish you would keep your
eye upon him, and let him join the midshipmen in their studies with
you, in the morning. Possibly he may enter the Service, and it will be
a great advantage to him to have got up navigation, a bit, before he
does so. At any rate, it will occupy his mind and keep him out of
mischief. A lad of his age would be like a fish out of water, among
the passengers on the quarterdeck."

"Ay, ay, sir. I will do what I can for him."

And he hurried away.

Dick saw that, for the present, there was nothing to be done but to
look on, and it was not until the next morning, when the Madras was
making her way south, outside the Goodwins, that the second officer
spoke to him.

"Ah, there you are, lad! I have been too busy to think of you, and it
will be another day or two before we settle down to regular work.
However, I will introduce you to one or two of the midshipmen, and
they will make you free of the ship."

Dick was, indeed, already beginning to feel at home. The long table,
full from end to end, had presented such a contrast to his quiet
dinner with his mother, that, as he sat down beside