the same to you, gentlemen,
I'll have your stores on board a bit late in the afternoon when the
sun's getting lower, and--Well, now! look at that. Think he heard what
I said?"

"I hope not," said Sir Humphrey quietly. "It's as well not to excite
people's dislike by making remarks about their appearance before them."

"Right, sir," said the captain. "That's one for me."

"I beg your pardon, Captain Banes," cried Sir Humphrey earnestly. "I
did not mean to--"

"It's all right, sir; I deserved it," said the captain bluffly, "and I
hope now he didn't hear. Poor beggar! It is his nature to. Now,
gentlemen, what do you say to coming and having a look over your cabin
and berths? All being well, they'll be your quarters for many a long
month to come."

"By all means," they cried, and started for the brig at once.

CHAPTER FOUR.

ABOARD THE "JASON."

"Sits like a duck, don't she, gentlemen?" said the captain proudly, as
they approached the riverside. "I don't say but what you may find
faster boats, but I do say you won't find a better-built or
better-proportioned brig afloat. Look at her."

The captain had good cause to be proud of his vessel, and he showed his
pride by having her in particularly trim order, while his crew of a
dozen men were smart, good-looking young fellows, as trim as their
vessel, and very different from the ordinary run of merchant seamen,
being quite the stamp of the smart, active, healthy-looking Jacks of Her
Majesty's Fleet.

Everything was smartly done, beginning with the manning and rowing
ashore of the captain's boat, while as the little party ran alongside
and stepped on deck the crew were gathered together ready to salute the
brothers with a cheer.

"Why, captain," said Sir Humphrey, after a sharp glance of satisfaction
around him, "you surprise me. The `Jason' looks more like a yacht than
a merchant brig."

"No, no, no, no, no, sir," said the captain, in a remonstrant tone; "as
clean and smart, p'raps; but there isn't the show. Look here, though,"
he continued, nodding to one of the brothers and taking the other by the
edge of his coat, "things happen rum sometimes, don't they?"

"Certainly," said Sir Humphrey, smiling at the skipper's mysterious way
of taking them into his confidence. "With regard to what? Has anything
happened rum, as you call it?"

"To be sure it has," said the skipper, screwing up his eyes. "You want
a boat suitable for going up rivers, don'