ply rewarded by the way the admiral spoke to me.

"I have my eye on you, Mr Hurry, and it is, I feel, my duty to mark out
merit for reward," he observed, with a pleasant smile, one day when he
had invited me to dine with him.

I got three or four days' rest, and, on the 3rd, sailed once more on a
cruise.

I had not been out many days when a tremendous gale sprang up which
compelled me to lay-to. During this time the little vessel shipped
several heavy seas, which I more than once thought would send her to the
bottom. At last one heavier than its predecessors came rolling and
roaring towards us.

"Hold on, my lads!" I sang out.

There was nothing else to be done. It struck the vessel.

"She is sinking! she is sinking!" cried out several of the people, as
the sea washed over us.

She rose again; but our enemy had left us in a pretty state of wreck and
confusion. The caboose was gone, and so was everything on deck not
thoroughly secured. The water, too, in torrents was rushing down below.
Still our masts stood, and not a rope was carried away. I immediately
ordered the pumps to be rigged, and had to keep all hands spell and
spell at work at them. The gale, which had been blowing from the
north-east, now shifted to the north-west as hard as ever. I had no
choice but to remain hove-to, and to work away at the pumps to keep the
vessel afloat. Our caboose being gone, and as we had no stove below, we
were unable to light a fire to cook anything. We were all, therefore,
compelled to live on raw meat. The crew didn't seem to think this
anything of a hardship; indeed, seamen, when not hard pressed, will
often, to save themselves the trouble of cooking, or because they prefer
it, eat it in that state.

I have had many a hard time at sea, but that was as hard as any as long
as it lasted. As soon as I could venture to make sail, I shaped a
course for Rhode Island, and, getting a better land-fall than I
expected, I reached it on the 12th of December. When I went to report
myself to Sir Peter, he received me very kindly.

"You have had a pretty rough time of it, Mr Hurry," he remarked.

"Yes, sir," I replied, and I told him how the tender had been knocked
about, and what a hard time we all had had of it; but I made no
complaint, and finished by saying that I was ready to go again to sea in
her as soon as she had undergone the necessary repairs.

"No, no, my lad," he answered. "I like your spirit; but she and