THE JOUENEY DOWN, AND CONCLUSION. 399 



it, for lie had seen him in the night. I pooh- 

 poohed the whole thing, said he must have been 

 dreaming ; but it was no use. He said he never 

 dare sail in that brig again — in fact, he was get- 

 ting old, and had some serious thoughts of knock- 

 ing off the sea altogether ; and begged me, if 

 possible, to procure him a live bear or some other 

 wild animal, as he thought he could get a good 

 living by leading it about England. At five the 

 pilot came aboard, and the anchor was soon apeak, 

 the cheery voices of the British crew bringing 

 back to my mind scenes in foreign harbours now 

 many thousand miles distant. I went out to sea 

 with him about twenty miles, and on leaving in 

 the pilot-boat a beautiful leading wind had sprung 

 up, and was steadily carrying the old brig out to 

 sea ; and as the dear old British flag faded away 

 in the distance, I inwardly wished her a good 

 passage, and hoped, to use the skipper's phrase, 

 that " she'd bump home in something under a 

 month. 55 



We had not many passengers on the Stockholm 

 boat, but there were three young men standing 

 together on the poop when I came on board, who 

 deserve a passing notice. The manly, open counte- 

 nance; the wiry, well-knit form; the neat, well- 

 fitting dress (with nothing of the swell or dandy 

 about it) ; and, moreover, the quiet, determined 



