his marmalade, which he assured us would not only be more palatable with
our biscuit, being such "a splendid substitute for butter," as the
advertisements on the labels say, but would also act as an antiscorbutic
to prevent the spread of scurvy amongst us--it being, as he declared,
better than lime-juice for this purpose!

The hands consented to this arrangement at first as a welcome change;
but, when they presently found themselves mulcted of their salt junk,
they grumbled much at Old Jock for holding us all to the bargain, and he
and his marmalade became a by-word in the ship. I did not wonder at
all, after a bit, that Pedro the steward got into the habit of venting
his wrath when vexed by kicking the empty tins about!

I cannot say, however, that I disliked my new life, in spite of these
drawbacks in the way of insufficiency of food and constancy of appetite,
throughout which Ching Wang remained my staunch friend, bringing me many
a savoury little delicacy for supper when it was my night watch on deck.
These tit-bits in the "grub" line I conscientiously shared with Tom
Jerrold, who received similar favours from the steward, with whom he was
a firm favourite, the only one, indeed, to whom the Portuguese appeared
to take kindly on board.

No, on the contrary, the charm of being a sailor grew more and more upon
me each day as the marvels of the deep became unfolded to me, and the
better I became acquainted with the ship and my companions.

All was endless variety--the sky, the sea, and our surroundings changing
apparently every moment and ever revealing something fresh and novel.

It did not seem real but a dream.

Could that be the Madeira I had read about in the distance, and that the
Bay of Funchal of which I had seen pictures in books; and that the
little nautilus or "Portuguese man-of-war" floating by the side of the
vessel, now almost becalmed, with its cigar-shaped shell boat and pink
membraneous sail all glowing with prismatic colouring? Was it an
actuality that I saw all these things with my own eyes; or, was I
dreaming? Was it really I, Allan Graham, standing there on the deck of
the good ship Silver Queen, or somebody else?

An order from the captain, who came up from his cabin just then and
caught me mooning, to go forward and "make it eight bells," stopped my
reflections at this interesting point; and the next moment I was more
interested in a most appetising odour of lobscouse emanating from Chin