Now, `a wise
seaman dreads a calm near a coast where there are currents, and a fog
far more than heavy gales of wind in the open ocean.' Put that down in
your log,--it is worth remembering, as the lesson you have learned from
a calm and a fog."

CHAPTER TWO.

Cousin Giles finds an old Shipmate--Tom Puffing's Account of the Wreck
of the _Victoria_--Miraculous Escape of Part of the Crew--God's
merciful Providence displayed--Cousin Giles converses with the Crew--
First Sight of Denmark, Elsinore, and its Castle--View of Copenhagen--
Description of the Battle and its Cause--Sunday Service on board
Ship--Voyage up the Baltic--The Gulf of Finland--Cronstadt and its
Batteries--Why the British did not take them--The Czar's Mode of
Manning a Ship in a Hurry--The Russian Fleet--Leave their Steamer and
proceed towards Saint Petersburg.

Cousin Giles soon found his way forward, over the bales of cotton and
piles of hay, followed by Fred and Harry, and entered into conversation
with the crew. He had not been long there when an old weather-beaten
seaman put his head up the fore hatchway. "Ah! Tom Pulling. I thought
that I had caught sight of the face of an old shipmate," exclaimed
Cousin Giles, stretching out his hand. "How fares it with you?"

The old man's countenance brightened as he returned the grasp warmly.

"Is it you, indeed? I am glad to see you--that I am," he answered.
"I've a good berth now, though I've had knocking about enough since I
sailed with you last in the _Juno_. I was cast away in these very parts
some time back, and never had a narrower chance of losing my life, so to
speak."

Cousin Giles asked old Tom how this had happened. The other seamen who
were not on duty drew near to listen to the old man's oft-spun yarn, and
our young friends stood by, eager to hear what he had got to say.

"Why, you see, sir," he replied, "after I was discharged from the old
_Melampus_, I thought I'd try if a short-voyage steamer would suit me
better than a man-of-war, seeing that I'd got a wife and family to look
after; so I shipped on board the _Victoria_ steamer, running from the
port of Hull to Saint Petersburg. It was our last voyage that year.
About the 6th of November, I think, we left the Humber; but we hoped to
get to Cronstadt and away again before the ice set in. The weather was
as fair as could be wished for, and with smooth water; so we all made up
our minds that we were going to