h to keep themselves; they were consequently tired of their shore
life, and had determined to go to sea again if they could meet with a
ship and officers to their liking. They were mightily taken with the
barque--as of course any man who knew a ship from a washing-tub would
be--swore she was the sweetest-looking craft in the harbour; and, when I
mentioned your name, said they had heard of you and wouldn't wish to go
to sea under a better man. Altogether, if they are only in earnest as
to their desire to go to sea again, I do not think you should find much
difficulty in securing them, sir."

"Give me their address," said I, "and I will be off after them at once.
This is not a time for fencing and feigning indifference; the fellows
know, as well as you or I do, what a haul they will prove to the man who
is lucky enough to secure them, so I will not run any risk of losing
them by pretending otherwise. If I can persuade them to ship, I will
sail to-morrow, short-handed though we should be. I can take the
starboard watch myself; and, for the rest, we shall just have to keep an
extra sharp eye upon the barometer and the weather, and be careful to
snug down if need be in good time, until we again reach China, when we
shall probably be able to get another man or two." So saying, I took
the address from Forbes, and forthwith started in search of the men. I
found them at length, after a somewhat tedious quest, in a most
disreputable-looking boarding-house, situate in the most disreputable
part of the town. And I am bound to admit that my first impression of
the men was that their appearance was in perfect accord with their
surroundings. They most undoubtedly were, as Forbes had said, as
rowdy-looking a set of ruffians as one would care to meet. Tough,
sinewy desperadoes, swarthy as mulattoes by long exposure to the fierce
southern sun, with long, dense, tangled thatches of hair mingling with a
thick, neglected growth of beard and whisker that permitted scarcely a
feature, save the nose and eyes, to be seen, clad in the remains of the
inevitable flannel shirt, cord trousers, and knee-boots, with belts
about their waists, in which each man carried his revolver and a
formidable bowie-knife; the whole topped off with a soft, broad-brimmed,
battered felt hat dashed on to the head in a fashion eloquently
suggestive of the utmost extreme of recklessness,--I think I never saw a
party of men who, under ordinary circumstances, I wo