66 A CHANGE. 



lieutenant's watch, the officer who from 

 the beginning had taken me under his 

 kind protection. Then did my time pass 

 pleasantly enough; feeling a little my im- 

 portance, as forecastle midshipman, I 

 thought I was gaining ground on the 

 great Caractacus, who had but so re- 

 cently occupied that post, and who was 

 now debarred, with the others who had 

 been disrated from speaking to us, either 

 off or on duty. Added to the satisfac-. 

 tion of being out of reach of such annoy- 

 ance, the haughty demeanour of the other 

 individual I have before alluded to, was 

 somewhat softened down towards me, if 

 not totally changed, by the tact and im- 

 partial conduct of the officer of our 

 watch, who would see no difference, and 

 make no distinction between us, and did 

 all he could to make our duties light 

 and our time happy. 



Often in the middle watch, when cross- 

 ing the South Atlantic, with the trade 



