ving once been settled, they all seemed to take the
matter very philosophically, the fact that they were now relieved of the
mate's tyranny perhaps reconciling them to such disappointment as they
might otherwise have felt.

I need not dwell upon the return voyage, which was singularly
uneventful; suffice it to say that, favoured with fine weather and a
fair wind all the way, we made an exceptionally smart run across the
Atlantic, entering Port Royal harbour on the morning of the twenty-
second day after bearing up, and eleven weeks to a day from the date of
my abduction by Dominguez.

My sudden reappearance created quite a sensation among the dockyard
people, my disappearance having been involved in so much mystery that
all sorts of surmises had been indulged in to account for it. Some were
of opinion that I had fallen overboard into the harbour, and had found a
secure hiding-place in the maw of a shark; but there were others who,
happening to have been present when I was summoned from Mammy
Wilkinson's hotel upon my supposititious errand of help and rescue to
young Lindsay, at once mentioned the circumstance, with the result that
a very strong suspicion of foul play was aroused. My friend and patron,
the admiral, was especially concerned upon my account, even going to the
length of offering a reward of fifty pounds for such intelligence as
should lead to my discovery; but it resulted in nothing, those worthies,
Caesar and Peter, perhaps being too much afraid to utter a word of what
they knew. Then there occurred more frigate actions, resulting in so
heavy a pressure of work, that nobody seemed to have any time to think
about the mysterious disappearance of a somewhat obscure young
lieutenant. But now that I had unexpectedly turned up again, safe and
sound, I was overwhelmed with congratulations, while the admiral sent a
party of police to the house to which I had been conveyed, with
instructions that the two negroes were to be at once found and arrested.
The house, however, proved to be empty when the police made their
domiciliary visit; and, as for the negroes, their whereabouts was never
discovered. Possibly the excitement of my reappearance, and the talk to
which it gave rise, alarmed them and caused them to beat a hasty retreat
to some other island.

To my great joy, I discovered that the _Diane_ was not yet
recommissioned, the repairs and alterations to her having been greatly
delayed by the more pressing