ll its endearments, is not
for you. The time of your probation is yet unfulfilled!--your
punishment is not accomplished!"--a voice whispered in my ear. I could
not silence it. Still I thought that it was only fancy. Just then
Charley Iffley joined me in my walk; we were in the same watch.
Hitherto I had never told him of my belief that a curse was pursuing me.
I should have been wiser not to have mentioned the subject to him;
still I thought that he was so much changed that he would sympathise
with me. I told him all that had occurred from the moment when I first
expressed my wish to go to sea to my grandmother and aunt, and reminded
him of all the sufferings I had endured, and the number of times I had
been shipwrecked. Instead, however, of treating the subject in the
gentle, serious way Mr Merton had done, he burst into a loud fit of
laughter.

"Nonsense, Will," he exclaimed, "you'll next accuse me of being your
evil spirit, and of tempting you to sin. Many a man has been
shipwrecked as often as you have who has been sent to sea against his
own will; and if he swore at all, it was that he might speedily get on
shore. Get that idea out of your head as soon as possible."

I was anxious enough to follow Charley's advice, but do all I could, the
idea came back and back again whenever I found myself during my watch at
night taking a turn by myself on deck.

Charley was already out of his indentures, and as he had become a steady
fellow and a good seaman, he hoped to be made mate on his next voyage.
At last the day arrived when the term of my apprenticeship expired, and
I was to be a free man, able to take any berth offered to me. My only
wish, however, after I had paid my family a visit, was to be employed in
the service of my present owners. To commemorate the event, Charley
proposed having a feast in our mess, and he managed to purchase from the
third mate, who acted as a sort of purser, various articles of luxury
and an additional bottle of rum. We were very jolly, and very happy we
thought ourselves, and blew all care to the winds. The passengers and
the captain were making merry in the same way in the cabin, drinking
toasts, and singing songs, and making speeches, and telling funny
stories, so the cabin-boy told us as he came forward convulsed with
laughter. The wind was fair and light, the sea was smooth, and no ship
floating on the ocean could have appeared more free from danger.
Suddenly there was a