n came to the
Captain with an unusually long face.

"What is the matter, Doctor Macbride?" asked Captain Penrose.

"I'm sorry to say, sir, that we have two cases of yellow fever on
board," was the answer.

"What, Yellow Jack--my old enemy?" exclaimed the Captain, trying to look
less concerned than he felt. "Turn him out then--kick him away--get rid
of him as fast as possible, that's all I can say."

"More easily said than done, I fear, sir," answered the surgeon, who was
well aware that his Captain was more anxious than he would allow; for,
from sad experience, he well knew that when once that scourge of the
West Indies attacks the crew of a ship, it is impossible to say how many
may be the victims, and when it may disappear.

"You are right, doctor. We must do our best, though, and put our trust
in Providence," answered the Captain gravely. "Let the men be on deck
as much as possible. We will have their provisions carefully looked to,
and we must have their minds amused. Let Sam Smatch keep his fiddle
going. Fear of the foe kills many, I believe. Now if we could meet an
enemy, and have a good warm engagement, we should soon put Yellow Jack
and him to flight together. And I say, doctor, don't let the men see
that you are concerned any more than I am."

After a little further conversation, the doctor took his departure.

The ship continued her course across the Caribbean Sea, with light winds
and under the hottest of suns; and the fever, instead of disappearing,
stealthily crept on, attacking one man after another, till fifty or
sixty of the crew were down with it. Death came, too, and carried off
one fine fellow, and then another and another, sometimes five or six in
one day. At last there was a cessation, and the spirits of the sick as
well as of the healthy revived; and Sam Smatch set to work and fiddled
away most lustily, and the crew danced and sang, and tried to forget
that there was such a thing as Yellow Jack on board. Several of the
sick got better, and even the doctor's and the Captain's spirits
revived. Once more it fell calm, and, as the Captain was walking the
quarterdeck, Dr Macbride came up to him with a grave face.

"What is the matter now, doctor?" he asked in as cheerful a voice as he
could command; for whatever he felt in private, he would not allow
himself to appear out of spirits before his officers or crew. "What!
not driven the yellow demon overboard yet? Kick him--trounce him