THE VOYAGE. 7 
looked like a mass of frosted silver—so brilliant 
was the contrast to the dark water and darker 
svoods, still in shadow, behind and around it. 
» Delighted with the singular beauty of the 
scene, and wandering, in imagination, far away > 
into the vistas of the past, recalling scenes 
of frightful atrocity once enacted within the 
dreaded gates of the buccaneers’ stronghold— 
wondering too if gems and gold, plunder 
wrenched from many a rich argosy, still lay 
hidden amidst the dust of its crumbling walls— 
a sudden flash, and a jerk that sent me sprawling 
on the deck, at once recalled my thoughts from 
the past to the present. Utterly oblivious of 
what had happened, as I scrambled on my legs, 
a stifled laugh induced me to look round. ‘ Wish 
I may never taste rum again, Cap’en, if I ever see 
you a-sittin on the signal-gun,’ said a sly-looking 
rascal in sailor’s dress. There was a roguish leer 
in his eye that revealed the whole secret. Seeing 
me seated on the signal-carronade, loaded to an- 
nounce our arrival, was too tempting a chance to 
indulge in a practical joke for Jack to resist; so 
he quietly touched off the gun, without giving me 
any notice. No doubt he has had many a hearty 
laugh at my expense since then, when telling the 
‘yarn’ in far-away latitudes. Our stay in the 
