ooked as if they could never smile. His complexion had
a very leathery look, and his figure was tall and lanky in the extreme.
I could not have said whether he was an old or a young man by his
appearance.

"Well, there's the ship," he observed, seeing that I was looking at him
instead of going on board. "_Do_ you know me now?" with an emphasis on
the _do_. "That's kind now to acknowledge an old friend. We was raised
together, I guess; only you wasn't weaned till last summer, when the
grass was dried up."

I saw that he was laughing at me; but as I felt that I had been rude in
staring at him, I said I begged his pardon, but that he made a mistake
in supposing we were acquainted, unless he had visited the south of
Ireland, seeing that I had never been out of that part of the country
before. This seemed to amuse him mightily, for he gave way to a quiet
and very peculiar laugh, which I heard as I passed on towards the ship.

There was a plank placed from the quay to the deck of the ship, and by
means of it I stepped on board the _Black Swan_. No one took any notice
of me, so that I had time to look about me. She was a ship of some
eight hundred tons burthen, though she was advertised as of twelve
hundred. She had a raised poop aft, which I may describe as an
additional house above the deck, the doors of which opened on the deck.
There was a similar raised place forward, called the topgallant
forecastle. Under the latter the seamen and mate lived, while the
captain and passengers inhabited the poop. The space between decks was
open fore and aft, and fitted up with standing bed-places. This was for
the abode of the poorer class of emigrants. The hold, the remaining
portion of the ship below the main deck, was filled with cargo and
provisions.

All this I discovered afterwards, for at first everything appeared to my
sight an inextricable mass of confusion and disorder. After watching
for some time, I observed a man whom I concluded was the first mate, by
the way he ordered the other people about and the air of authority which
he assumed; so at last I mustered courage to go up to him.

"Please, sir," said I in an unusually humble tone, "are you the first
mate of the ship?"

"Well, if I am, and what then?" was his not very courteous answer.

"Why, it's settled that I'm to go in this ship to learn to be a sailor,
so I've come on board at once to make myself useful," I replied.

He eyed me curiously from head