THtf JOURNEY DOWN, AND CONCLUSION. 395 



country is always welcome ; and though the most 

 important piece of news which he could tell me 

 was that " Jem Mace was matched to fight Tom 

 King again/ 5 still there was something English 

 about that, and we discussed the merits of the 

 two men quite as warmly and enthusiastically 

 under the polar circle as in Mace's own parlour. 

 It appeared that the skipper's brig was lying in 

 the harbour laden with timber, ready to sail the 

 next morning, and he was (true sailor-fashion) 

 enjoying his last night on shore. The girl, how- 

 ever, came to warn us at eleven that it was time 

 to close, but., to borrow the skipper's phrase, we 

 had not half " spliced the main brace." So I 

 proposed an adjournment to my private room, 

 and by dint of a little flattery and cajolery we 

 persuaded her to take down a bottle of brandy 

 and "the materials;" to which she at first ob- 

 jected, saying, she knew what we Englishmen 

 were when we got together — most probably we 

 should set the room on fire. Where the carrion 

 is there will be the " vultures ;" and our company 

 was soon increased by two or three other skippers, 

 and last of all by a burly Russian captain, who 

 claimed an introduction on the score that his brig- 

 had been burnt by an English man-of-war during 

 the late Russian war. A jolly night we spent 

 of it, and great was the Babel ; for I have in- 



