64 BRINGING MR. TOWNSEND BACK AGAIN. 



we would pitch him overboard and make him 

 paddle for terra firma. 



Now it was on one of these occasions, when a 

 hostage was being returned to the bosom of his 

 tribe, that the Rochester boy found an opportun- 

 ity to desert. He was in the boat as we took off 

 the native, and when the tatooed man was about 

 to start ashore, Townsend suddenly jumped over- 

 board and swam for the land. The officer in 

 charge ordered him to return, but he never paid 

 the least attention — just tumbled through the 

 surf, scrambled up the beach and made away 

 inland as fast as his truant heels could carry him. 



" Blast my luck," said the officer, " blast my 

 ugly luck ! Now I'll have to face the music ! 

 Now the old man'll make me waltz ! " But he 

 checked the outpouring of his chagrined rage. 

 He tried to recover something like dignity before 

 his men. The men, on their part, suppressed their 

 merriment. Without another word from anybody 

 the boat returned to the ship. 



It was just as the second mate had predicted. 

 The old man flew into a terrible passion, swore 

 hideous blasts of blubber-slicer profanity, cursed 

 everybody and everything from the chief mate to 

 the carpenter's ditty-box, and vowed lied have 

 that Townsend back in his clutches again if he had 



