er's Gascony wine. But as the _Good Hope_ continued to tear
through the smoking waves, and toss her stem and stern alternately high
in air and deep into white foam, the number of these jolly companions
diminished with every moment and with every lurch. Many sat apart,
tending their hurts, but the majority were already prostrated with
sickness, and lay moaning in the bilge.

Greensheve, Cuckow, and a young fellow of Lord Foxham's whom Dick had
already remarked for his intelligence and spirit, were still, however,
both fit to understand and willing to obey. These Dick set, as a
body-guard, about the person of the steersman, and then, with a last
look at the black sky and sea, he turned and went below into the cabin,
whither Lord Foxham had been carried by his servants.

CHAPTER VI

THE "GOOD HOPE"

(CONCLUDED)

The moans of the wounded baron blended with the wailing of the ship's
dog. The poor animal, whether he was merely sick at heart to be
separated from his friends, or whether he indeed recognised some peril
in the labouring of the ship, raised his cries, like minute-guns, above
the roar of wave and weather; and the more superstitious of the men
heard, in these sounds, the knell of the _Good Hope_.

Lord Foxham had been laid in a berth upon a fur cloak. A little lamp
burned dim before the Virgin in the bulkhead, and by its glimmer Dick
could see the pale countenance and hollow eyes of the hurt man.

"I am sore hurt," said he. "Come near to my side, young Shelton; let
there be one by me who, at least, is gentle born; for after having lived
nobly and richly all the days of my life, this is a sad pass that I
should get my hurt in a little ferreting skirmish, and die here, in a
foul, cold ship upon the sea, among broken men and churls."

"Nay, my lord," said Dick, "I pray rather to the saints that ye will
recover you of your hurt, and come soon and sound ashore."

"How!" demanded his lordship. "Come sound ashore? There is, then, a
question of it?"

"The ship laboureth--the sea is grievous and contrary," replied the lad;
"and by what I can learn of my fellow that steereth us, we shall do
well, indeed, if we come dry-shod to land."

"Ha!" said the baron, gloomily, "thus shall every terror attend upon the
passage of my soul! Sir, pray rather to live hard, that ye may die easy,
than to be fooled and fluted all through life, as to the pipe and
tabour, and, in the last hour, be plunged among misfortunes! Ho