myself, will be able to put him into the
spare bunk, where he will be out of everybody's way, and where I can
attend to him quite conveniently."

To this proposal the worthy skipper at once consented; and half an hour
later Dick, having discarded his working clothes for a suit of blue
serge, and otherwise made himself presentable, moved aft and established
himself in the spare cabin which Captain Roberts placed at his disposal,
the skipper having meanwhile ensured a cordial reception for him from
the passengers by telling them such particulars of Dick's history as he
was acquainted with, and also describing, with much picturesque detail,
the masterly manner in which the lad had patched up the injured seaman.

Dick had no reason to complain of the manner in which the passengers
received him among them; on the contrary, his reception was cordial in
the extreme, especially by the women, to whose sense of romance the
lad's story, as told by the skipper, appealed very strongly. The
introduction took place just as the passengers--or at least those of
them who were not too ill--were about to sit down to tiffin, and Dick
was assigned a place at the long table halfway between the head and the
foot, where Captain Roberts and Mr Sutcliffe respectively presided; but
the young man declined to sit down until he had visited and relieved his
new patients, consisting of five ladies and three men.

His method of dealing with these unfortunates was simplicity itself.
Relying wholly upon the wonderful power of hypnotism with which his
friend Humphreys had endowed him, he prepared for each patient a draught
consisting of sugar and water only, slightly flavoured with an aromatic
bitter; and, as he presented this, he got the patient under his
influence in the instantaneous manner which Humphreys had taught him, at
the same time saying, in a quietly confident tone of voice:

"Now, I want you to drink this, please. It is an absolutely unfailing
and instantaneous remedy for the distressing complaint from which you
are suffering, and the moment that you have swallowed it every trace of
discomfort will disappear, to return no more. You will feel so
thoroughly well that very probably you will wish to rise and dress; but
I do not advise that. On the contrary, I recommend you to remain where
you are until you have had a few hours' refreshing sleep, after which
you can get up to dinner. That is right,"--as the patient swallowed the
draught.