re acquired the sailor's habit of falling
asleep at a moment's notice, my head no sooner pressed the pillow than I
sank into a sound and dreamless slumber.

At the appointed hour the steward awoke me; and on reaching the deck I
was much moved and gratified to observe that not only were all hands on
deck, "cleaned and shifted" in anticipation of the mournful ceremony
that lay before us, but also that Sir Edgar and his whole family
intended to pay the last tribute of respect to the dead man, they having
mustered upon the poop in the nearest approach to mourning attire that
their resources permitted. It is not my intention to here enter into a
long and detailed description of the solemn and impressive rite that
quickly followed; it has been done more than once or twice by far abler
pens than mine, and is to be found in books that are read the wide world
over. There is therefore no need for me to attempt to inform my readers
upon a subject with which they are doubtless already sufficiently well
acquainted; suffice it to say that no form or detail was omitted which
could in any wise testify to our respect and esteem for our lost comrade
and friend, or add to the decency and solemnity with which we consigned
his body to its last resting-place _in_ the depths of the illimitable
ocean. This done, I promoted Forbes to the position of chief mate;
raised the boatswain to the dignity of "second officer;" and so brought
the incident of poor Roberts's tragic fate to a close.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

A GHASTLY WAIF OF THE SEA.

Our voyage had, thus far, proved to be an unusually eventful one; yet it
was to be made the more notable ere its close by the addition of still
one more incident, and that, too, of a sufficiently ghastly character,
to the catalogue of those already recorded. It occurred on the tenth
day after our brush with the Malays in the Straits of Sunda, and when we
were about midway across the China Sea.

Since that wild night on which we had so nearly laid the bones of the
_Esmeralda_--and possibly our own as well--to rest on the shores of
Sumatra, we had met with uninterrupted bright sunshine and light,
favourable breezes. The day on which the incident occurred was no
exception to the rule. The weather was gloriously fine, with a rich,
softly mottled sky of blue and white overhead, out of the midst of which
the afternoon sun blazed fiercely down upon a smooth, sparkling sea,
gently ruffling under the faint, warm