iv.] Firrs FORAY. 9 



Fitz, whose talents for discerning where the vegetables, 

 fowls, and pretty ladies of a place were to be found, I had 

 already had occasion to admire, went ashore to forage ; while 

 I remained on board to superintend the fixing of our sacred 

 figure-head — executed in bronze by Marochetti — and brought 

 along with me by rail, still warm from the furnace. 



For the performance of this solemnity I luckily possessed 

 a functionary equal to the occasion, in the shape of the 

 second cook. Originally a guardsman, he had beaten his 

 sword into a chisel, and become carpenter ; subsequently 

 conceiving a passion for the sea, he turned his attention to 

 the mysteries of the kitchen, and now sails with me in the 

 alternate exercise of his two last professions. This indi- 

 vidual, thus happily combining the chivalry inherent in the 

 profession of arms with the skill of the craftsman and the 

 refinement of the artist — to whose person, moreover, a paper 

 cap, white vestments, and the sacrificial knife at his girdle, 

 gave something of a sacerdotal character — I did not con- 

 sider unfit to raise the ship's guardian image to its appointed 

 place; and after two hours' reverential handiw r ork, I had the 

 satisfaction of seeing the well-known lovely face, with its 

 golden hair, and smile that might charm all malice from the 

 elements, beaming like a happy omen above our bows. 



Shortly afterwards Fitz came alongside, after a most 

 successful foray among the fish-wives. He was sitting in 

 the stern-sheets, up to his knees in vegetables, with seven 

 elderly hens beside him, and a dissipated-looking cock 

 under his arm, with regard to whose qualifications its late 

 proprietor had volunteered the most satisfactory assurances. 

 I am also bound to mention, that protruding from his 

 coat- pocket were certain sheets of music, with the name ot 

 " Alice Louisa, " written therein in a remarkably pretty hand, 

 which led me to believe that the Doctor had not entirely 

 confined his energies to the acquisition of hens and vegeta- 

 bles. The rest of the day was spent in packing away our 

 newly-purchased stores, and making the ship as tidy as cir- 

 cumstances would admit. I am afraid, however, many a 



