s to ever again go to sea under an English captain. The
truth was that they had excellent reasons for discontent concerning the
scrape into which they had been led, and they were well aware that they
had not yet by any means seen the end of it. Almost the best they could
hope for was that they were to be sent back to some country of Europe,
on some ship or other which had not yet arrived at Vera Cruz, and which
might not sail away with them on board for a number of weeks to come.
Any man among them was now almost willing to have had the _Portsmouth_
sink the _Goshhawk_.

Heavy shot may be craned over into boats, and kegs or barrels of
gunpowder may be let down tenderly, gently, as well by moonlight and
lantern-light as by any other. Therefore, the coming on of night did not
interfere with the landing processes. Moreover, any amount of sleep may
be performed by a healthy boy in a battered ship lying safely at
anchor. So Ned made up, more or less, for the sleep he had lost during
the long race of the _Goshhawk_, and it was not early when he came on
deck the next morning. When he did so, he found his duties as nominal
supercargo cut out for him, and Captain Kemp appeared to be especially
anxious that a son of one of the owners should supervise whatever was to
be done with the peaceable part of his cargo. He even explained to Ned
that he might yet be called upon in some law court to testify to the
honest accuracy of all the papers he was now to sign.

"It'll take about two days more," he told him, "and you mustn't go
ashore till the ship's empty. The American consul hasn't taken his
passports yet, but he expects to get away soon, somehow or other. Most
likely, he'll be taken off by a ship of war. So, perhaps, will other
Americans. You might wait and get away then, if you think best, but you
can't hope to ever go on this ship."

Ned had an increasingly strong feeling that he did not now care to go on
that or any other craft of war or peace. He would much rather go to
Oaxaca than to New York, and he felt more sure than ever that his
father would not wish him to run any risk of the dreadful yellow fever.
So he worked on industriously, learning a great deal concerning the
processes required in getting a cargo out of a ship. During several
hours, he was so occupied that he almost forgot the existence of his
Mexican friend, but he was dimly aware that a small rowboat had come to
the off-shore side of the ship, and had shortly p