mother and
another to Dr Humphreys, written during his watch below.

The fair wind which the _Concordia_ fell in with at the mouth of the
Thames lasted long enough to carry the ship, not only clear of the
Channel, but also well to the westward of Ushant, Captain Roberts having
availed himself to the utmost of the opportunity to make as much westing
as possible, as his experience had taught him that at that season of the
year the prevailing winds which he might expect to meet with to the
northward of Madeira would most probably be strong from the south-
westward. And the event proved the correctness of that mariner's
surmise, for on his seventh day out from Gravesend he fell in with the
expected shift of wind, and four hours later the _Concordia_ was
fighting her way to the southward, under double-reefed topsails, against
a heavy and fast-rising sea.

Those seven days had made a vast amount of difference to Dick Maitland,
so far as his usefulness as a seaman was concerned. In that
comparatively brief period he had contrived not only to learn the name
and function of every bit of running rigging in the ship, but also to
lay his hand unerringly upon any required halyard, brace, sheet,
downhaul, clewline, or other item of gear in the darkest night; he was
as active and almost as handy aloft as the smartest A.B. in the ship;
and he proved to be a born helmsman, standing his "trick" at the wheel
from the very first, and leaving a straighter wake behind him than any
of the other men, even when the ship was scudding before a heavy
following sea. Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, was delighted with his
young _protege_, and declared, in unnecessarily picturesque language,
that he would qualify the boy to perform the duties of an able seaman
before Natal Bluff should heave in sight.

But Dick was to prove his mettle in quite another fashion before long;
for the strong south-westerly breeze which the _Concordia_ encountered
on her seventh day out rapidly developed into so furious a gale that,
after battling with it for some fourteen hours, Captain Roberts decided
to heave-to under close-reefed fore and main topsails, and at eight
bells--noon--the order was accordingly given to clew up and furl the
already reefed courses, and to haul down and stow the fore-topmast
staysail. This, under the weather conditions of the moment, was a task
requiring the services of all hands, and by the orders of the chief
mate, who was conducting the