ve."

"Poor Griffin," said Tom, "he _did_ object to Jocko's society; that was
the reason I always used to keep the dear fellow ashore; however, as you
say, Gerald, I am my own master and can do as I like now. You don't
think the crew dislike my monkey, do you?" he added eagerly.

He was such a kind-hearted obliging chap, that if he thought that even
the loblolly boy objected to the presence of Jocko on board, he would
have banished him from the ship for ever, especially from the very fact
of his being the commander and having no one to dispute his authority.

"Oh dear, no, certainly not," I replied at once, with "effusion," as the
French say in their idiom. "The men like him better than you do, if
that is possible; and I don't know what they would do without him, I
only thought the change of climate might be deleterious to his health,
that's all!"

"Deleterious indeed, Gerald! wherever did you pick up such a fine word?
I suppose you have been interviewing old Jalap about your liver, eh, you
hypochondriacal young donkey! Why, Monte Video is a regular paradise
for the monkey tribe, and Jocko will be in his element there!"

"But I don't suppose we'll stop there, Tom; didn't you say that you
thought it probable that we would have to go round Cape Horn and join
the squadron at Callao?"

I may here explain that while on the quarter-deck, I invariably
addressed Tom Finch as "Sir," for was he not my commanding officer?
But, while below, or when off duty, he insisted on my retaining my old
custom of calling him by his Christian name, the same as when we were
together in the gunroom, and he only a "sub."

"And if we _do_ go round the Horn, what then, Mr Sub-lieutenant
Follett?" said he.

"Won't Jocko find it cold: you know it's winter time there now?"

"And can't I have him clothed like a Christian, stupid, and keep him by
the fire, or in the cook's cabin, where he will be so warm, that he'll
fancy himself in his native clime?"

"Oh, yes," said I, "I quite forgot that his dearest friend next to you
was Pompey!" alluding to the ship's cook, a sable African, who came very
probably from the same locality as the monkey; the two being very much
alike, not only in the colour of their complexions, but in their
features and facial development.

"Yes," said Tom reflectively, "Pompey will take care he doesn't freeze.
He could not be fonder of him than his own brother would be; he might,
indeed, _be_ his relative, if Darwin'