eful visage, the captain said, "Why don't you pay out cable, you
lubber, and drop astern, clear of the brig?"

Bohun stood near the windlass, and his appearance struck me as being
singularly interesting. He was dressed like a gentleman; wore a green
frock coat and a white fur hat; but his garments were saturated with
rain and the spray. He seemed resolute, nevertheless, and anxious to
do something, but he knew not what to do. When roughly accosted by the
captain of the brig, he replied, "If you'll send two or three men to
help me, I will soon get the sloop clear of your vessel. My men have all
deserted, and I can do nothing without assistance."

The captain of the Gustavus shook his head and his fist at the young
Irishman, and discharged a double-headed oath at him, within point-blank
shot. Nevertheless, Bohun continued, "If you will let me have one man,
only ONE man, I may be able to save the sloop."

"One man!" replied the Swedish captain, screaming with passion, "how
do you expect me to spare even one man, when my own vessel may strike
adrift at any moment? Pay out cable, and be hanged to you! Pay out
cable, and drop astern!" And he aimed another ferocious oath at the
unfortunate supercargo.

Poor Bohun was no sailor. He hardly knew the difference between the
cable and the cathead. He looked the picture of distress, almost of
despair. But I, being under no obligations to the brutal captain of the
brig, was at liberty to obey the impulse of my feelings. I stepped over
the quarter rail, grasped the topmast stay of the sloop, swung myself
on the jibboom, and in the space of a few seconds after the captain had
concluded his maledictions I was standing on the sloop's forecastle,
alongside of Bohun.

Chapter XXV. TREACHERY AND INGRATITUDE

As soon as I reached the deck of the sloop, Bohun eagerly grasped me by
the hand. "My good fellow," said he, "tell me what to do, and I will go
about it at once; only tell me what to do first."

I cast my eye around, and comprehended in a moment the exact condition
of the little vessel. I felt that a great responsibility had suddenly
devolved upon me, and I determined to be equal to the task. The sloop,
pitching and rolling, and jammed between two much larger vessels, was
awkwardly situated, and riding, I supposed, at a single anchor. About
half the cable only was payed out; the remainder was coiled on the
forecastle, and the end was not secured.

"In the first place," sai