haps the yarn might give you a hint as might be useful
to you if you ever gets into the same kind of fix, I don't mind if I
tell you. Just at present I have not finished my work, but if you and
the other two young gents like to come forward here at six bells I will
tell you about it."

CHAPTER XVI.

OLD JOE'S YARN.

AT seven o'clock the three lads gathered round the old sailor forward.
Joe having got his pipe to draw to his satisfaction, proceeded to relate
the story of his shipwreck.

"It happened," he said, "on the very first v'yage I made as an A.B.; and
proud I was, as you may guess, that I had done at last with being
ordered here and ordered there, and kicked here and cuffed there. I was
just twenty-one then, and as active and hearty a young chap as you would
want to see; not over big, you know, and spare in flesh, but as strong
and active as any on board a ship. Well, it came on to blow just about
the same latitude where the storm struck us the other day, but much
heavier. I never saw a worse sky in all my v'yges, and when the blow
came it seemed to me there was an end of everything at once. I need not
tell you about the storm; you just take the last one and pile it up
about ten times, and you have got it.

"Although we were ready and prepared for it, and had snugged down till
we scarce showed a rag of sail, over she went at the first blow, till we
all thought as she was going to turn turtle. We cut away her main and
mizzen, and at last got her before it and run. That gale blew for ten
days right on end. The sea was tremendous. Over and over again we were
pooped, our bulwarks were carried away, the boats smashed, the caboose
and pretty nigh everything else on deck swept clean off. Five of the
hands had been washed overboard, another three men were down below badly
hurt, and the first-mate had his leg broke. We were all pretty well
exhausted, as you may guess. Where we'd got to none knew, for we had
never had a glimpse of the sun since the gale began; and it would not
have made much difference if we had, because, you see, we could do
nothing but just run before the wind wherever it liked to take us. But
we knew anyhow we had got down into high latitudes, for the gale had
been blowing pretty steady from the north-west.

"The air got bitterly cold all of a sudden; and though we could not see
above a mile anywhere round us, we were pretty sure we were in the
neighbourhood of ice. Towards the afternoon o