n with Jack in the _Gauntlet_, as boatswain. When it
was known that Jack was to command the _Dragon_, several old shipmates
volunteered, Jerry Bird and Tim Nolan among them. Tom was much pleased
to have his old messmate Billy Blueblazes. Dicky Duff had joined the
_Eolus_. Altogether Jack was well satisfied with his officers and
ship's company.

We cannot venture to describe the parting, as it might be too touching
to the feelings of our fair readers. Lucy, having had to undergo the
same ordeal just before, was able to console her sister-in-law. Jack's
manly heart felt very full, but he tore himself away, and, hastening on
board, ordered the ship, which was at Spithead, to be got under weigh.
Round went the men at the capstan, the merry pipe sounding, and under
all sail the _Dragon_ stood down Channel. She was directed not to use
her coal except in case of necessity. Having touched at Madeira, where
she took in a cask of wine for the admiral, and oranges enough to keep
scurvy at bay for many a month, and having sighted the Cape de Verdes in
the distance, she stood across to Rio. That city had improved greatly
since Jack was last there, the enlightened Emperor being the advocate of
liberal institutions, which have done much to advance the social as well
as the material interests of the inhabitants. Mildmay, who still,
notwithstanding he was first lieutenant, indulged his poetical fancies,
wrote a sonnet on the benign rule of the Emperor, which, unfortunately,
having been blown overboard, cannot be given.

Touching at the Falkland Islands for a supply of fresh beef and
vegetables, the _Dragon_ steered for the Straits of Magellan, which Jack
had determined to run through. She called off Sandy Point, near the
eastern entrance of the Straits, where the Chilian Government have
formed a settlement for the purpose of working a coal mine. Some
copper-coloured natives, with broad faces and high cheek-bones, and
dressed in guanaco robes and skin boots, came off to the ship,
principally to obtain some liquor, though they brought some ostrich,
fox, and guanaco skins to exchange for guns and gunpowder or spirits.
The passage of the Straits being broad and well known, the ship steamed
rapidly on till she reached Cape Pillar at the western end, beyond which
the Pacific Ocean burst on their view. Instead, however, of entering
it, she steered north into Smith's Channel, the southern end of a
passage which runs due north betw