That evening, the Rumbly was at sea, and certainly, after all the luxury in which he had lately revelled the very opposite of the primitive simplicity of Ragotum—the roughness of a midshipman's life struck Gentleman Jack rather vividly; he, therefore, with all the plenary authority of a self-elected committee composed of one-" Resolved, that the Admiralty do promote him to the rank of lieutenant so soon as his time and examination be passed." After this, having kept the middle watch, and turned in hard and fast till seven bells, he roused out, breakfasted on salt junk, and then turned to, and made out a new watch and quarter bill, nor troubled his head how the world went, nor where the wind blew him, but singing the while,

“ A light heart and a thin pair of breeches

Will go through the world, my brave boys!"

CHAPTER X.

"Your regular fine-gentleman-merchant-captain is a rare animal, I admit; but when you do meet him, his character is as marked as the tiger's back."

CAPTAIN POPAWAY.

A FEW days after his majesty's ship the Rumbly had put to sea, it came on to blow most violently, and in the middle of the gale a strange sail hove in sight, which turned out to be an East Indiaman, who, recognising the Rumbly as an English man-of-war, made the signal of distress. As she was considerably to leeward, the commodore ran down to her, and found she had carried away her main and mizen topmasts. Both ships lay-to during the violence of the

gale, and when this had sufficiently abated, Sir High Topham sent a boat on board the stranger to know what assistance he could render. The answer was, that in carrying away her masts she had lost three and disabled several more of her men, that her bowsprit being sprung, she had great fears for her foremast, and that, finally, if Sir High could lend her a small party of seamen to go as far as Calcutta, he would be conferring a very great benefit on the honourable company and their ship. The answer to this application was certainly one most substantial, and to the point, since it was nothing less than the sending of Fitzjohn, Jim Bell, and twenty-six seamen, on board the Tigris, East Indiaman, with orders to assist her captain in the repairs of the ship, and the conducting her to Calcutta, where they were to wait the Rumbly's arrival.

In the course of half-an-hour Fitzjohn received his written instructions from Sir High Topham, and himself and party having got all their traps ready, were rowed on board the Tigris, and the two ships set sail on their

courses.

The first duty of our friends was that of working hard in repairing the damages of the gale; and as soon as the progress of their labour gave them time to look round, they found the crew of the Tigris to consist of the captain, Mr. Thomas Jessamy, three mates, and ninetyseven men. Besides these, she carried seventeen male and fifteen female passengers.

In order to describe these, we will begin with Captain Jessamy himself. He was the very picture of a sailor-dandy, and as he owned onehalf the ship, thought "no mud of himself," as Jim Bell very choicely phrased it. As the passengers recovered from the fright into which they had been thrown by the late hard weather, they gradually mustered around the dinnertable, which was well kept, and plentifully served with all the delicacies that could be supplied.

"I say Bo'," quoth Jim Bell, sniffing up the odour of dinner on the first day of his arrival;

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please the pigs, we've fallen in with plenty of belly timber at last! and not before it's

wanted. Hang me if my ribs and trucks an't

as spare as a young greyhound's. I've had enough of the starving-jaw commons of a manof-war for many a day. I don't care how long we hang out in these quarters, and nothing would please me better than if 'twas to come on and blow great guns, knocking us back two knots for every one we make forward."

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Why," replied Fitz, "though I don't exactly wish that, I'm very well contented, and shall be still more so, if, when we go in to dinner, we find one or two pretty girls aboard."

"Oh, as to the gals, Master Gentleman Jack, I leaves them all to you. I finds them all so precious modest, I'm afraid to open my mouth. Give me Gosport for my money. There natur's natur, and whether you calls for grog or backy, all's vone and the same thing."

Our hero, as officer of the party, of course dined in the cabin every day, while Jim Bell, having been put in charge of a watch, was also frequently invited. On the first day that this happened, after the resuscitation of all the lady passengers, Jessamy, at the appointed hour of dinner, appeared in the dinner-cabin with his