put a few lines
at the bottom to comfort her; but, unfortunately, the letter, which was
sent on shore by the cook, never arrived. Whether he dropped it, or
forgot it till after the ship sailed, and then tore it up, I do not
know; but, as I found out afterwards, it never did get to her hands."

"It was not your fault that the letter did not arrive safe," said Mrs
Seagrave.

"No, madam, that was not my fault; the fault had been committed before."

"Don't dwell any more upon that portion of your history, Ready; but tell
us what took place after you sailed for the East Indies."

"Be it so, if you please. I certainly was very smart and active for my
age, and soon became a great favourite on board, especially with the
lady passengers, because I was such a little fellow. We arrived safely
at Bombay, where our passengers went on shore, and in three weeks
afterwards we sailed down the straits for China. It was war time, and
we were very often chased by French privateers; but as we had a good
crew and plenty of guns, none of them ventured to attack us, and we got
safe to Macao, where we unloaded our cargo and took in teas. We had to
wait some time for a convoy, and then sailed for England. When we were
off the Isle of France, the convoy was dispersed in a gale; and three
days afterwards, a French frigate bore down upon us, and after
exchanging a few broadsides, we were compelled to haul down our colours.
A lieutenant was sent on board with forty men to take charge of us, for
we were a very rich prize to them. The captain and most of the crew
were taken on board of the frigate, but ten Lascars and the boys were
left in the Indiaman, to assist in taking her into the Isle of France,
which was at that time in the hands of the French. I thought it hard
that I was to go to prison at twelve years old; but I did not care much
about it, and very soon I was as gay and merry as ever. We had made the
island, and were on a wind beating up to the port, when a vessel was
seen to windward, and although I could not understand what the Frenchmen
said, I perceived that they were in a great fluster and very busy with
their spy-glasses, and Jack Romer, one of my brother 'prentices who had
been three years at sea, said to me, `I don't think we'll go to prison
after all, Ready, for that vessel is an English man-of-war, if I'm not
mistaken.' At last she came down within three miles of us, and hoisted
English colours and fired a gun. The F