EIGHT bells had struck on board the ship Almeda. The watch had been relieved, and as all sail was set, and there was every appearance of pleasant weather for the next four hours, at least, the men comprising the starboard watch, all gathered round one of their number, an old gray-headed salt, and urged him to spin them a yarn. The old sailor took a long look to windward, then helping himself to a huge chew of tobacco, seated himself on the forecastle deck, and began as follows:

       "Well, shipmates, seein' as how you want a yarn, and have pitched on me to reel it off for you, I s'pose I can't refuse, though it's a little out of my latitude. So, if you like, I'll give you a few scraps from my log-book, as nigh as I can remember. But the second mate is coming forward, and I guess there's work to be done; so I'll wait till we see what he wants."

       The officer came forward and glanced at the head-sails, ordered a small pull at the flying-jib halyards, then went aft again — merely remarking to the man on the lookout, to "keep a good lookout ahead, there."

       "Ay, ay, sir," was the response.

       Old Bill again seated himself, and began as follows:

       "Well, do you see, I was at one time one of the crew of the ship Argonaut, of and from Boston, bound on a voyage round the world. We were to stop at San Francisco to discharge our cargo, which consisted of most every kind of merchandize useful in that market, from dry goods to stage coaches; then proceed to China, take in a cargo of tea, and return home by way of Cape Good Hope.

       "The Argonaut was a new craft, this being her first voyage, and proved to be a remarkably crank ship, which was a source of great annoyance to the old skipper, for when the wind was abeam, he couldn't crack sail enough on her to suit his fancy, without danger of upsetting her. Howsomever, she was a fast sailer, and when we were eighteen days out, we had overhauled and run away from everything in our track, including some of the crack ships from New York. The skipper had begun to think by this time that there wasn't another craft afloat that could sail with her before the wind, and calculated on about an eighty days' passage to California. But the next morning, when we were washing down decks, we sees a large clipper ship right astern of us, standing on the same tack, and overhauling us rapidly. The wind was very light, and what little there was, was dead aft. We had studding-sails set below and aloft, on both sides, and every stitch of canvass that could be carried to advantage, was set, and we were not making more, than two or three knots at that; but she gained upon us every minute.

       "The captain didn't think strange of this at first, for he reckoned the stranger had got a better breeze than we had; but as she came nearer to us, the old man swore enough to sink the whole ship's crew to the bottom of the ocean. We set taut on all the halyards, and hauled home on the sheets, and everything that could be done, was done, to make the Argonaut sail, but it wasn't no use; the stranger come right upon our starboard quarter, and hailed us.

       "She proved to be the Sea Witch, of Baltimore, bound to California, and was then only eleven days out from New York, while we were nineteen days out from Boston, and had all the breeze we could stagger under until that morning. She kept alongside of us a few minutes, till our captain had got the latest news from home, then walked away from us as easy as if we'd been lying at anchor, and the last I see of her was at two bells in the afternoon watch, hull down ahead of us.

       "Well, this made the skipper awful cross for a good while; for he hadn't calculated to be out-'sailed by anything the whole voyage round, and here he was beaten handsomely at nineteen days out. He declared that if it wasn't for being superstitious, he should think the ship was really a sea witch, under the special patronage of old Neptune.

       "Well, we had a fine run down to the cape, and passed several clipper ships, but found nothing that could hold their own with us, excepting the Sea Witch. We had a fair wind all the time until we were within fifty miles of the cape; but our good luck wasn't always going to last. One day in the afternoon watch, it became suddenly calm, which is something so unusual for these latitudes, that I knew we would have to catch it before long. I was standing at the weather rail, looking to windward, when the captain came along, and says he, 'We'll smell Cape Horn to-night, Bill, or I'm no sailor.' I turned round to see who he was speaking to, for I thought it couldn't be me, it was something so uncommon for him to speak to a foremast hand, unless it was to 'curse his eyes,' when I see in a minute that the old man was half-seas over in more ways than one, for he was one of that kind of skippers who never drink anything, but pour it down; and, as little Ned Frost used to say, he thought he made such a rum-cask of himself, he'd float if he should happen to fall overboard.

       "When I seed the condition he was in, I bid good-by to all hopes of any comfort till after we got clear of Cape Horn; for in all probability he wouldn't be sober again as long as we had bad weather. He always made it a rule, which I never knew him to break, to get drunk on the first appearance of dirty weather, and keep so till it got through blowing. Then look out for falling spars, for the way he'd carry sail on her was a caution to sober men. Well, sure enough, we did smell Cape Horn that night in earnest. The gale began in the dog-watch, and for forty-five days it blew a regular Cape Horn snorter, right in our teeth, with hardly an hour's cessation, and in the whole time we didn't make a mile on our course. The ship stood it well for a few days, considering that there was a press of canvass on her all the time; for the skipper swore he would drive the masts out of her before he would take in a rag of it; and carried studding-sails on her when he ought to have been under close-reefed topsails. But nothing of any consequence was carried away, except studding-sail booms.

       "One afternoon I was standing just forward of the fore-rigging, when the fore topmast studding-sail-boom went in two, and the outer end of it came in-board, carrying away the rim of my tarpaulin, and making a hole clean through the deck. The skipper came forward to order another boom rigged out, but when he was just abreast the fore rigging, she pitched her bows clean under water, and the sea swept her decks fore and aft, and washed all hands clean back to the quarter-deck. The captain picked himself up, and started once more to go forward, when she went under again, and washed him clean to the taffrail. He'd been a goner this time, but the end of the mizzen royal clewline happened to be off from the belaying-pin, and the old sinner caught hold of that just in time to save him from going overboard. This sobered him a little, and he ordered the studding sails taken off from her, and the topsails reefed. The reef tackles were hauled out, and the men were laying aloft to reef sail, when a sea struck her broadside, and stove her weather bulwarks into kindling wood, quicker than you can think.

       "After that the old man was a little more careful about carrying sail for a while, but a few days after the weather moderated, so that we shook the reefs out of the topsails, and set the top-gallant sails. But it soon began to blow again bad as ever, and while we were furling the foretop-gallant sails, little Phil Low, a youngster who had shipped as ordinary seaman, was on the weather yard-arm with me, when the sail flapped back over our heads, and knocked Phil off the yard. He struck on the fore yard, and rolled off into the sea. The ship, was put about as soon as possible — but it was no easy job, for there was a nasty sea running — and the quarter-boat lowered; but it swamped before it got its length from the ship, and all hands came near being drowned. Life-preservers and hen-coops, and everything handy that would float were thrown overboard in hopes that Phil might get hold of one of them, and keep up till we could take him off. We lay about there for an hour or two, but seeing nothing of him after he first touched the water, we finally gave him up as lost, and the ship was again headed on her course. Phil was a good swimmer, but we sup. posed he must have been hurt when he struck the fore yard, so as to disable him. Nothing of any account happened after this during the passage to California. We had a tedious passage, and instead of eighty, were one hundred and forty-five days on the route.

       "When our pilot came aboard, the first question we asked him was, if the Sea Witch had left there. He said there had been no such ship in that port that year. We were all taken aback at this, for we supposed from her great speed that she must have got in and gone out again before this time.

       "We come to anchor in the bay that night, and the next morning hauled up alongside the wharf. We had just got all fast, and the decks cleared up, when we sees a big ship coming up the harbor, in tow of a steamer. She hauled up to the next wharf with us, and a pretty-looking mess she was, too. Her foremast was gone close to the deck, her bowsprit carried away chock to the knight-heads, and her starboard bulwarks were gone. So I goes over to see what craft it was that was used up so, and come to find out 'twas the same Sea Witch that had given us the go-by so handsomely. She had a good run down to the cape, when she took a heavy gale, but instead of lying-to, the captain piled on the rags, and swore he'd drive her round. But the very first night, he run foul of a Spanish schooner that was hove-to, and sunk her with all hands on board. The Sea Witch was very much damaged, and leaked badly; but the skipper called all hands aft, and told them they could have their choice, either to let her sink, or take her up to San Francisco, for he was bound not to put into any port this side of there.

       "While I was looking about her decks, who should I see come up from the forecastle, but Phil Low, the chap we supposed was lost off the cape." Here Bill was interrupted in the yarn by the second mate. The wind was hauling abeam.

       "Haul in the lee fore brace," was the order given.

       "Ay, ay, sir," was quickly responded, as the willing tars sprang to the work.

       The yards were soon braced up, and the watch again seated on the forecastle-deck to listen to the remainder of Bill's yarn. Stowing away a fresh quid in his capacious mouth, he begun:

       "Well, shipmates, I don't exactly recollect when I was cruising where I left off, but I believe it was where I see Phil Low coming up out of the Sea Witch's forecastle. I thought it was either his ghost, or else I was very much mistaken. Any way, I couldn't believe it was him, because I see him go overboard off the Horn; but shiver my timbers if he didn't steer right up to me, and hail me:

       "'Well, Bill,' says he, 'What's the news aboard the Argonaut? How long have you been in?' and forty other questions he asked before I could answer a thing.

       "'Why, Phil,' says I, as soon as I found tongue, 'I thought you were overboard off the Horn.'

       "'Well,' says he, 'I was; but I had a chance to ship in this ere craft, and finding that a hen-coop in a heavy sea, wasn't the best sea boat that ever was, I come aboard of her. But I've most wished sometimes I'd stayed aboard the hen-coop, for you see this craft aint exactly in a condition to keep a foremast hand comfortable; and then, I was captain, mates, and all hands on the hen-coop.'

       "Well, as soon as I'd answered his questions, we went over aboard the Argonaut. As soon as our chaps see him, they were scared eenamost out of their senses; but when they found it was Phil himself, and no ghost, a jollier set of fellows never was seen aboard one ship than the Argonaut's crew, for Phil had been a great favorite with all hands. It appeared that when he fell overboard, he was not much hurt, but as soon as he rose he struck out for a hen-coop, which he managed to get hold of. He hollered as loud as he could yell, but we could neither hear nor see him. He was washed off the hen-coop twice, but managed to get on to it again, and seeing a bit of rope hanging to it, made it fast round his waist. He floated about in this way till he was almost dead, when the Sea Witch came along and picked him up.

       "Well, we layed in California a little more than a month. The stevedore and his gang discharged our cargo, and we had nothing to do but go ashore and spend our time and money as we saw fit. The cook of our vessel, a Chinaman, on the passage out, ran away in California, and we shipped a big in his place. He was, without any exception, the strongest man I ever saw aboard a ship. One day, on the passage to China, he caught a big shark, and hauled him in board as easy as if it had been a dolphin. Another time, when the men were carrying a kedge anchor from the mainmast forward — there was four of them hold of it, and they couldn't but just stagger along with it, a little ways at a time, — he come along and looked at it a minute. Then says he: 'Get away, and let dis hab a lift.' The men stood back, and he took the anchor, and throwing it over his shoulder, carried it clear forward, and laid it down. 'Now,' says he, 'any time you want any anchors moved, don't strain yourselves liftin' 'em, but jes let dis know, and he will move 'em for you d'rectly.'

       "When we left San Francisco, the Sea Witch was lying there, just as she came in. They had not done the first thing towards repairing her, and in all probability, she could not be got ready for sea in less than a month. We made a good run to China, and was there about a month, taking in our cargo, and getting ready for sea. Phil Low didn't go in the ship to China. He said he wouldn't ship twice in a craft he couldn't go the whole voyage in.

       "When we were four days out on the homeward bound passage, and right abreast of Hong Kong, we saw a large clipper ship standing out from the land. She soon came up on our weather quarter, and spoke us, and as true as I'm a sailor, 'twas that everlasting Sea Witch. We were all hands taken aback, for we had a very quick run to China, and when we left California she was lying there a wreck. Well, in spite of all we could do, she run away from us again, and we saw no more of her at present.

       "When we got down to the Straits of Sunda, we stopped there to trade with the Malays for yams, sweet potatoes, etc., and to take in fresh water. While we were bartering with the natives, some of our chaps bothered them, and they went off mad. Just before we got ready to sail, I, and three or four of our chaps, takes a boat and goes ashore after another cask of water. We hadn't got a great ways from the boat, when a whole posse of Malays run out of a clump of bushes, and pitched right in among us, and as we had no arms but our sheath-knives, we thought the best course we could steer was to cut and run. The other chaps all got to the boat safe, but being in something of a hurry, I hit my foot against a big stone, and fell head foremost, and before I could gather myself up, the beggars were upon me. But I wasn't taken prisoner easily. I fought like a tiger, for I knew they wouldn't show me any mercy, if they didn't kill me on the spot. The way I flourished my old knife was a caution. Once I got clear from them, and got to the water's edge before they overtook me, but the boat was then some distance from the shore, and making for the ship. I should have plunged into the water, and tried my luck at swimming, but I saw several ravenous-looking sharks waiting to receive me, if I did; so I was taken prisoner at last, and had the pleasure of seeing the ship put to sea without me.

       "Well, the first thing the lubbers did was to strip me of all my valuables — which consisted of a broken knife and an old tobacco box, — then run me back a little ways into the bushes to a big log that lay there. They laid me flat on my back on the log, then lashed me fast, and went off and left me. I certainly hadn't any objections to their leaving, for I thought when they were tying me to the log, it was all day with old Bill; but I wasn't at all pleased with the situation they left me in. Being lashed flat on one's back on a log, is not altogether the most enviable position a fellow can be placed in. I'd lain on deck many a time, watching the stars, but then I could get up when I got ready. But there I was tied so tight that I couldn't start neither tack nor sheet, and I was obliged to see stars, or close my toplights. I expected every minute the lubbers would come back, and either cut my windpipe, or knock me over the head with a cudgel; but such wasn't the case, for my cruise wasn't up yet. Well, I lay there till after dark, when it began to rain. This didn't make things any more comfortable for me. Being aboard a log, with one's face upwards, in a rain storm, aint quite the thing, now I tell you. I should rather have been aboard a hen-coop off Cape Horn, for then I could have the satisfaction of knowing that if some craft didn't come along and pick me off, I should die a kind of a natural death, any how; but to be killed here by these bloody Malays was entirely agin my principles, and something I wouldn't put up with, without making an attempt to get away. I wriggled and twisted as much as I could, but instead of getting loose, I sprained my star-board wrist badly, so I give up trying for the present, and waited as patiently as I could under the circumstances, for morning. Morning came at last, and with it Malays enough to man a seventy-four gun-ship; but they only came and tried my lashings, and seeing they were all fast, cleared out again, all the while keeping up a bloody pow wow, and making more noise than a whole ship's crew, singing, "Storm along, stormy," of a windy night.

       "I thought it was mighty unkind in them not to bring me a little grub of some sort, for I hadn't had a mouthful of anything since I was pressed into their service, and somehow I got the idea into my head that they was going to leave me on the log to starve to death, for I hadn't a might better opinion of them than that. While I was calculating the chances of getting away, and considering which would be the most agreeable — to be starved to death, or roasted alive, — three or four of 'em come back and cast off my lashings, and stripped every rag of clothes off of me. But when I sees they were calculatin' to lash me to the log again, I concluded I wouldn't submit, without making another attempt to get away; for, to tell the truth, my back was getting a little lame. So I pitched into 'em, and if it hadn't been for my sprained wrist, I'd whipped the whole four of 'em, and got clear. But I soon found they were too much for me, for my starboard flipper was almost useless; so after a little persuasion in the form of blows, I give in, and was tied to the log again.

       "Well, says I to myself, after they had cleared out and left me alone, here we are again, all the way from Shanghai. I tried to persuade myself that it was all for the best I didn't get away from the tawny rascals, for if I had, I couldn't got off the island until some vessel come along, and it was no ways probable I could have cruised about that vicinity a great while, without being taken again.

       "Well, I was there four days, without a mouthful to eat or drink. My wrist was swollen badly, and pained me dreadfully. On the fourth day, just at night, I heard some one talking good English, and saying something about me, too. I knew in a minute that some vessel had stopped there, and the crew were ashore. I yelled as loud as I could for my life, but the kind of food I'd lived on for the last few days had weakened my lungs, so I couldn't make noise enough for them to hear me, though they passed by, laughing and singing, within a few fathoms of me. They hadn't been gone more'n half an hour, when I hears an awful racket a little further up ashore, and I knew in a minute the sailors were having a row with the bloody natives. Pretty soon after the noise begun, two big Malays come running up to my log, and untied me, and took me farther back into the bushes; but we hadn't got but a little ways, when we met smack, right face to face, about thirty of as smart sailor chaps as ever used a marlin'spike. My Malay friends let go of me, and tried to run; but it want no use. A few gentle taps over the head with a handspike, in the hands of one of the sailors, hove them to directly. The men all flocked round me and untied my arms, and there happened to be an old shipmate of mine among them. He knew me in a minute, and hailed me:

       "'Well, there,' says he, 'may I never eat another mouthful of salt beef, if there aint old Bill Bowers! I was talking about you not half an hour ago, and telling about our cruise in the Polar seas, in the old Columbian. But, Bill, what in the name of all that's salt, brought you here among the bloody pirates? You haint turned pirate yourself, have you?'

       "'Not exactly,' says I.

       "As soon as I'd told my story, they took the two chaps that had me in tow when they come across me, and tied 'em both on the same log that I'd been aboard of, and gagged 'em. Then says I, 'If you've got a ship hereabouts, I'd like to go aboard of her; for to tell you the truth, boys, I'm eenamost used up.' They took me and carried me to their boat — they wouldn't let me walk a step, and in a few minutes more, I was safe aboard the ship Messenger, of Boston. When I'd got some clothes on the outside, and a little gruel inside, I felt much more like a seaman than I did any time during my stop ashore.

       "It was a week after I went aboard the Messenger before I could stand my watch, and when I did get round again, bad luck seemed to follow in my tracks, and everything went wrong about the ship. The skipper told me one day, he believed I was a regular Jonah. The Messenger was a noble craft in every respect. She could not sail as fast as the Argonaut, but she was a much better sea boat; and I didn't care much for extra speed, for I wasn't in any hurry to get back to the States."

       "But didn't you hear nothing more from the Sea Witch, Bill?" broke in an old salt.

       "That I did," resumed Bill, "and you shall have it all in good time. But I guess from the appearance of things, I shall have to belay this soon, for I believe the wind is hauling ahead."

       The old sailor paused, and scanned the horizon away to windward. In a moment more, came the order for going about.

       The other watch was called, and while they were preparing to obey orders, the braces were thrown from the pins, and strung along the deck, the mainsail was hauled up, and everything got in readiness for going about. In another minute the men were at their stations, and the order was given to put the helm hard-a-lee, and as the ship came up into the wind, her yards were braced round, the jib and staysail sheets shifted over, the mainsail set and the bowlines hauled out, and the old ship was soon standing off, close hauled, on the other tack. By the time the ropes were coiled up, it was eight bells — time for the starboard watch to go below. So old Bill had to belay, and make all fast till the next pleasant night, when he again resumed his yarn:

       "Nothing happened worth relating on the passage to Calcutta. The captain found orders there to go to Shanghai for a part of his cargo. On the passage up, a most narrow escape happened on board the ship. We were tarring down, and a Spaniard, by the name of Antonio Martin, had gone up to tar the main-royal lifts and foot-rope, and while he was laying out on the yard-arm, his feet slipped off the foot-rope, and down he come, tar bucket and all. Antonio fetched up on the main royal yard, but the bucket of tar kept on down to the deck, spattering the larboard clew of the mainsail all over. Just that minute the steward was going from the galley to the cabin, with the captain's dinner, when the bucket come, bottom side up, ride on to his head. His skull was so thick that no serious damage was done; but the captain's dinner got pretty well seasoned. Poor Antony was scared half to death, and well he might be, for if he'd fell to the deck, he'd never gone on to a royal yard again. It was almost a miracle that he didn't, but the ship was before the wind at the time, and the main top-gallant yard happened to be braced in a little, and to this carelessness in trimming the sails, Antonio owed his life; for if the yard had been squared in with the rest of them, he must have fell to the deck. When the mate first see the mainsail spattered with tar in that shape, he swore awfully; but when he came to look at Tony, he couldn't help but laugh — for there the fellow stood, covered with tar, and swearing away in choice Spanish about the old diving bell, as he called the ship.

       "While we were in the China Sea, we were struck by a typhoon, which carried away our flying jib-boom, the fore and main top-gallant masts, and the mizzen topmast. She was thrown on her beam ends, and the second mate, who was going along to windward, was thrown across the deck, and against a spare topmast that was lashed to leeward, with so much force that he was disabled for the rest of the voyage. The cabin boy had just come up out of the cabin, and he was pitched clean down the after hatchway, into the between decks, bruising him badly, and breaking his left arm.

       "After this, things went on pretty smooth for a while, and we had fine weather until we were within a day's sail of Shanghai. Perhaps some of you chaps never cruised in these parts, so I'll describe the lay of the land a little. Shanghai lays on the Woosung River, about twenty miles from the sea, and right at the mouth of the river lays a little town, called Woosung. A few miles below the mouth of the river, there's a sort of cape running out into the sea. Well, this cape aint much of itself, but the shoals there stretch out quite a piece from the shore. We made this cape one morning, and calculated to come to anchor in the river, at Woosung, that night, and the next morning lay up the river to Shanghai. But the old Messenger never went into that river. For two or three days there had been an English barque a little ahead of us, on our lee bow. The wind was pretty fresh on our starboard beam, and we could just keep to windward enough to double that cape, and stand clear of the shoals. But as we neared the cape, the barque stood up a little more to windward, and our skipper thought if he kept the ship off a little to leeward of her, we should get round and get into the river first, although we were then as near the shoals as we could safely go. Orders were given to the man at the wheel to keep her off a couple of points. The mate remonstrated with the captain, and told him he'd certainly have the ship on the rocks if he kept her on that course a great while; but the old man didn't take any notice of what he said. The wind by this time had increased to a gale; but we didn't take in a stitch of canvass. The Englishman had taken in all his light sails, and was now taking a reef in his topsails; so we were gaining on him every minute.

       "The captain stood on the quarter-deck close to the man at the wheel. Once or twice the man, as a sense of the danger we were in came over him, luffed her up a little; but as soon as the captain saw it, he ordered him to keep her away, and stepping to the rail, took out an iron belaying pin, and held it over the man's head till we were within a few fathoms of the shoals, when he ordered the ship put about. But it was too late, she missed stays, and went stern foremost on to the rocks.

       "The English barque got round safe, and came to anchor in the river that night; but there we were, fast on the rocks, almost in sight of port, and all for the captain's obstinacy in risking his ship, rather than be outsailed by Johnny Bull, as he expressed it.

       "When the ship first struck she stove a hole in her bottom, and the water was fast coming into the hold. The sea was breaking over her, and the wind blowing a hurricane; so we knew that she must go to pieces before morning. There was no possibility of getting her off, as every sea that struck her drove her still further on the rocks; but we stayed aboard till a little after midnight, when we lowered the long boat. It was almost as dangerous to attempt to go ashore in her as it was to stay by the ship, but there was no alternative; so we all got into the boat, except old Davis, the carpenter, who said he'd rather take his chance with the ship than undertake to go in the boat. I took the helm, and by some good fortune that has always followed in my wake when I have been in great danger, I succeeded in getting her within a cable's length of the shore, when she struck on a point of rock that was under water, and tore half the bottom out. The next moment we were in the sea, without so much as a plank under us. The men were all good swimmers, but out of twenty-seven that were in the boat, only seven of us got ashore, and we were dreadfully cut and bruised. We had scarcely crawled back out of the reach of the waves, when the old ship went to pieces. The captain was among the missing, and we all thought it was about as well for him to be drowned, for the mate swore that if he came ashore alive, he'd murder him, and we didn't any of us feel much better towards him, for there we were, wrecked in a foreign country, and everything we had lost — besides so many men being drowned — all owing to his obstinacy. We lay out on the coast till daylight, when we made the best of our way to Woosung. We found the English barque lying there, and her captain gave us a passage up to Shanghai. We got there at noon, and immediately presented ourselves at the American consul's office, to see if there were any vessels up for the States. We learned that there was a fine little barque, called the Huntress, lying there, that would clear for New York in a week; so we went right aboard of her, saw the skipper, and signed the articles forthwith. She had already shipped her officers, so the chief mate and myself shipped as common seamen. The skipper advanced us some money to get some sea clothes with; for we had no clothes or money, since the wreck.

       "The greatest thing I see in China, was the way the Chinamen catch wild geese. The river at Shanghai is full of 'em most all seasons of the year. When the old Chinaman sees a flock of 'em light in the river, he goes up above 'em a little ways, and drops pumpkins in the river, and they float along down among the geese. It scares 'em a little at first, but they soon get used 'to seeing 'em, and don't mind it at all. Then the Chinaman takes a big pumpkin and scoops out the inside, and makes a little hole in the top for an air-hole, then puts it over his head, and wades out into the stream up to his neck; then he wades along slowly down towards the geese. They don't take any notice of him, for they can't see anything but the pumpkin. When he comes in reach of a goose, he reaches his hand up under and grabs him by the legs, and hauls him under water into a bag he has hung to his side; then goes to the next and serves him in the same way, and so on till he gets his bag full. Then he wades a little farther down stream, so as not to scare the geese, before he comes out. He repeats this operation till he has either got the whole flock, or they fly away."

       "Now, Bill," said one of the listeners, "if I was to believe this story, there'd be one great goose aboard this ship, I'm thinking."

       "Upon my honor, shipmate," returned Bill, gravely, "it's as true now as ever 'twas.

       "But I'm getting out of my latitude, so I'll steer a little straighter, or you wont get the whole of the yarn this watch. I've lost my reckoning, but I was somewhere aboard the barque Huntress, bound from China to New York. The captain was as fine a fellow as ever walked the quarter-deck. The barque being in good trim, there wasn't much to do but to work the vessel, so he gave us watch and watch the whole passage, and a fine time we had. We were a hundred and two days out, and never lost a spar.

       "One morning when we were running down the coast of Africa, and laying pretty close into the land, one of the boys who had been sent up to reeve the foreto'gallant studding-sail halyards, come down to the deck in a great hurry, and reported a curious looking object on the lee bow. We all brought our top-lights to bear in that direction, and we sees something black coming out from the shore, and making for us. It was then about half a mile off. Well, I runs and gets the harpoon, and bends a rope on to it, and stands in the bows, waiting for it to come up; for I was determined, whatever it was, that it shouldn't pass by without coming inboard and reporting itself, for, d'ye see, I'd a great curiosity to know what it was, for in all my following the seas, I never see anything that swum top of water, and made so much fuss about it as that did.

       "While I was waiting for it to come up, the captain came on deck, with his spy glass, and after taking a long look at the crittur, lowered his glass and began to laugh as hard as he could laugh, and says he, 'Bill, I guess you may as well unbend that rope, and put the harpoon back into the locker, for that black thing coming up there aint no sea animal, but a regular live .' Then he sung out to lower away the quarter boat. Well, I takes another look at the animal, and just then I heard him holler, so I knew it must be some poor fellow that was overboard, but how he come there was more'n I could make out. I run and put the harpoon back in the locker, and goes aft to get into the boat, but when I'd got on to the quarter deck, they'd got her lowered, and was shoving off from the barque; but I was bound to go in the boat, so I gives a leap overboard, calculating to strike in the boat, but they was a little too far off, and I went splash into the water. As soon as I came up and began to blow the water out of my mouth, the old skipper, who was mightily tickled, sung out, "There she blows! Hand me that harpoon.' I thought he'd burst himself laughing, but I said nothing, and struck out for the boat, but just as I was going to put my hand on her, the crew, thinking they would have a little fun at my expense, gives a long pull at the oars and shoves her out of my reach, and I'm blowed if they didn't make me stay there in the water, till after they'd got the aboard.

       "Well, when I got into the boat, and got a sight at the , I hope never to go up rigging again, if it wasn't Frazier, the big cook that shipped on the Argonaut, at San Francisco. We couldn't get a word out of him, till we got aboard the barque, and he'd rested a spell; but soon as he got in shape for talking, I asked him where the Argonaut was. 'Dibil a bit does dis know about her,' said he. 'Las' time I seed nofin of her, she lay at St. Helena.' He told me she put in there for water, and that he went ashore. He had a little more brandy aboard than was necessary to make him feel good natured, when he met the captain as he was going back to the ship. The old man called him a 'black devil,' and told him to go aboard, about his business. On that the knocked him down, and, says he, 'afore I lef' him, I guess dis wasn't no blacker about the peepers than he was.'

       "After that, Frazier didn't dare to go aboard, but kept out of sight until the ship sailed. He soon after shipped in an English man-of-war that was cruising on the coast of Africa, and staid in her till the night before we came along, when he slipped over the side and swam ashore. The night was dark, and nobody saw him from the ship. The next morning, the man-of-war wasn't in sight, but seeing our barque, and thinking she was an American, he swam out to her. 'And now,' says he to the skipper, 'if you wants the services of dis aboard your barque till you gets to New York, you can have 'em, free gratis, for nothing; if not, I'll go ashore agin directly. And I'se much 'bleeged to you for lowerin' your boat, besides. Dis man can tell you whether I'se good for nothing or not,' pointing to me, 'he and I'se been shipmates.' 'Not very loving ones either, I guess,' said the skipper, 'by the way he made for the harpoon, when he see you a coming off.' 'How's dat?' said the , rolling his eyes round to me. They told him all about it, and ebony was so tickled, he lay down on deck and rolled. 'Well, dere,' says he, 'dat's de fust time in his life dis ever had so much notice took of him.' I testified to his good qualities, and the skipper told him he could stay aboard the barque, but he'd have to go before the mast, for he'd got one cook already.

       "After Frazier come aboard our vessel, nothing of any account happened till we got within a few days' sail of New York, though we had a great deal of fun; for I lost no opportunity of playing a trick on the fellows that kept me in the water so long, off the coast of Africa. One night, I managed to tie the whole lot of 'em down to their bunks, so that when the watch was called, not a man of 'em could get up, till some one had cast off their lashings. I knew nothing about it, of course, but I knew they mistrusted me, so I hauled in a little, till one day, just before we got into port, we was painting the barque, and it happened that some of the fellows that I owed the grudge against, was sent over in a boat to paint the outside. They didn't take any oars into the boat, but the painter was made fast to a belaying pin aboard the barque, and when they'd painted as far as they could reach, some one would cast it off and haul 'em along a little. As soon as I saw they hadn't got any oars in the boat, I thought it would be a fine chance to play a trick on 'em. I was painting on the bulwark inboard, and when they got abreast of me, and nobody was looking, I draws out my old knife, and cuts 'em adrift, then put it back into its sheath, and kept on painting. It wasn't but a minute before some one in the boat sung out, 'Aboard the barque, there, ahoy! throw us over a couple of oars, for we've got adrift.' All hands ran to the rail and looked over, and there the boat was loose and drifting away from the barque. The second mate got a couple of oars, and the first one he threw didn't go anywhere in the same latitude with them, so he threw the next one with all his might, and when it struck, it came endways, and I'm beggared if it didn't go clean through the bottom of the boat, making a hole bigger than a man's hat. This was something I hadn't bargained for when I cut 'em adrift; but I wasn't altogether sorry, for before another boat could be lowered, the boat sunk, and left 'em all kicking about in the water, and that was just what I wanted. I was one of the first to help lower another boat to pick 'em up, but somehow or other, the tackles was afoul, and the more I tried to get 'em clear, the more they was snarled up, so before we got the boat lowered, the chaps had all had a pretty good soaking, and I concluded I was about even with 'em. So after this, I let 'em rest. They all knew well enough who set 'em adrift, but they never liked to say anything about it, and the captain didn't know but what 'twas all an accident. But he told me, after we got into New York, that he guessed I had a finger in the pie, for he noticed I looked mightily pleased all the time they was in the water.

       "The day after this adventure, the same Sea Witch that had spoken the Argonaut, when I was in her, came up on our weather quarter, and hailed us. She was homeward bound from Liverpool. It was my watch below, when she spoke us, but I came on deck to see what ship it was, and as she came along up, on our starboard side, who should I see, walking her deck, but the captain of the Messenger, who we supposed was drowned in the China Sea. There he was, walking the deck, with a cigar in his mouth, as important as if the lives of nineteen men, and a good ship, hadn't been lost for his carelessness. What ever became of him, after he got into New York, I don't know, but I afterwards found out, by inquiring aboard the Sea Witch, that just before she sailed from Liverpool, he had come there in a vessel from China. It seems that he got ashore safe, when we were wrecked, but kept out of our sight, and finally made his way to Liverpool, where he shipped in the Sea Witch for New York.

       "One day, after we sailed for California in the Argonaut, I put some dirty shirts on to a tow line and hove 'em overboard, and let 'em tow awhile. When I hauled 'em in, I happened to think that I left my bosom pin in one of the shirts, and it had washed out. I felt bad to lose it, for it was a present from a friend that I thought a great deal of. A few days after we got into New York, when I went ashore for the first time, as I was going along up the wharf, I stopped to look at a big merchantman that lay a little further up at the same dock. As I stood looking at her, and admiring her build, who should step over her gangway, on to the wharf, but Phil Low. The minute I set my eye on him, I saw that bosom pin. I thought by the build of it, it must be mine, so I asked him where he found so much brass. 'Which do you mean,' says he, 'the brass in my face, or in this ere bosom pin.' 'In the pin, of course,' says I. 'I know how you come by the brass in your face.' 'Well,' says he, 'in the passage home from Shanghai, just after we got through the Gulf Stream, we hooked a big shark, and hauled him inboard, and come to cut him up, I found this pin nicely stowed away in his locker. After a little rubbing up, it looked as well as new, so I brought it along.' He handed it to me to look at, and on the back of it I saw the first letters of the person's name that gave it to me. Then I knew certain it was mine. 'Young man,' says I, 'privateering aint my business, but I shall be obliged to take that pin off your hands.' So he gave up, and I've got it now!

       "A few days after this, Phil sailed in the Atalanta, for Valparaiso, and I haint heard of him since. As for my colored friend, I met him, shortly after, swelling down Broadway, with a flashy suit of shore clothes on. He told me he had got a situation as waiter, in one of the first class hotels, and was a gentleman now. 'And,' says he, 'I shan't go to sea any more, for they doesn't show respect enough to colored indiwiduals.'

       "As for the Argonaut, nothing was ever seen of her after she left St. Helena, and it is probable that she went down and all hands were lost. So it proved well for me, after all, that she left me at the straits, and after that, I've always thought that everything that happens is for the best, though I'm beggared if it always seems so at the time."

       "Now, shipmates, you've heard my story, and if you haint been interested, 'taint my fault, for I told you, before I begun, that I wasn't going to spin a yarn made up for the occasion, but I've given you a few scraps from my log book, as nigh as I can remember."

(THE END)