A NIGHT'S PERIL. 123 



the way of a start was touching the due manning of 

 my craft, as Pierre and his little son Antoine, who 

 had composed my former crew, had been paid off the 

 day before, and were shipped aboard another craft by 

 this time. Eight sorry, too, they had been at the 

 change, for both skipper and craft had been exactly 

 to their taste. I was not up to navigating the boat en- 

 tirely by myself, and had no great opinion of the value 

 of my friend Hamilton as a watch -mate. However, 

 he volunteered with such hearty good will, and the 

 weather promised to afford so little room for seaman- 

 ship, that I thought he might do at the pinch. It 

 was the first time we had ever been out alone, for, 

 frequently as we had been together, he had been 

 constant to his character as a passenger. 



" Now, Hamilton," said I, " you must work your 

 passage. You must stand by to clap on a rope or 

 run to the tiller." 



"Ay, ay/' said he, "never fear; I'll not shirk my 

 work. I've had a wet jacket before I saw your craft. 

 Did I never tell you about my cruise on the Cam ? " 



" Never, Tom." 



"Then you do not know half my nautical ex- 

 periences. Let me ask you how often you have 

 been capsized in one day?" 



"Never but once, I am happy to say, and that 

 was when Pierre held on too long at the sheet, against 

 that old launch of the Bucephalus." 



" I've been before this twice fairly foundered, and 



