and will take a bit o' 'bacco with me, why say so at once: if not, I must try what another tack will do for me, and open my 'bacco-box, and spin my yarn about my being shipwrecked, to other people."

66

Captain! Captain! We have got no shot left in the locker. We gave all our shot to that sad rogue in the blue jacket and trousers.'

"Well! well! If you have no shot in the locker, the old sea Captain has; and he is always ready to help a messmate that sails under true colours. Bless your young hearts, may you ever feel pity at a tale of distress, and your hearts glow to relieve it! but prudence must sit at the helm, boys, and discretion keep a sharp look out from the mast-head. The psalmist says, Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.-The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing,' Psa. lxi. 1-3. And the apostle says, 'Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not,' Gal. vi. 9. I like a liberal hand, and a liberal heart, boys. "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself,' Prov. xi. 25. But, as I said, let prudence sit at the helm, and discretion keep a sharp look out fro the mast-head. r Here, boys, put that into your locker; it perhaps may enable you to relieve a true-hearted sailor, if you meet one under the weather; and, if not, it will come in at a pinch, maybe, for somebody else."

"Oh, Captain, you are too kind! This is too much by half."

6

"Not a bit, boys. Here, you may as well take with you, as a prize, the lid of poor Jack's 'baccobox.' It may serve to remind you that all who tell pitiful tales do not speak the truth, and that every one that wears a blue jacket is not a sailor.”

"We are very much obliged to you, Captain. You said it was an ill wind that blew nobody good,' and so it has been with us: we were cheated out of our money by that land pirate, as you call him, yet now we are richer than before, and have got the lid of his tobacco-box into the bargain. If ever we should go to sea, we shall be able, when we come back again, to find out an impostor.

66

May be so, boys; when duty calls you there, be ready to obey the signal. If, in God's good providence, you are ever fairly afloat on the billows, pluck up your spirits, and be not cast down by trifles. If scouring the cabin floor or the deck with holy stone, on your knees, as cabin-boys; or if standing on the quarter-deck, commanding as officers, wherever you are, do your duty without flinching."

"It must be very pleasant to be in a ship in fine weather, Captain.'

66

Ay! and in rough weather, too, to those that like the sea. They love the heaving and tossing of the billows, and the rolling motion of the ship, boys. Whether it be a breeze or a hard gale, they delight in it. The tall masts and the bending sails, the winds whistling through the cordage, and the ship dashing her way through the frothy foam, are all pleasant things to them!

Then the blue-jackets on the deck, shrouds, and yards, all doing their duty; sharks and whales, sea-gulls, porpoises and flying-fish, make a change: and now and then a distant sail heaves in sight. On goes the ship, now tacking, and now flying afore the wind, while the heaven above is bright and blue, or hung round with dark clouds, whose edges are bright as silver and gold." "But the sea-sickness must be the worst!"

"That's not a pleasant thing; but, like other troubles, it does not last always, and then you are all the happier when you feel yourself all right and tight."

"Did you ever see a burning mountain, Captain?

"I have, boys; and it was when I was on a cruise in the Mediterranean, off Naples. The heavens were blacker than I ever like to see them. At first, there was nothing but smoke came out of the mountain; but after that, fire burst forth high into the air, and showers of ashes and stones. In a short time, the hole at the top seemed to boil over, and the fiery hot lava ran down the sides of the mountain."

“What mountain was it, Captain?"

"Vesuvius, boys. It is about a league or two from the city of Naples, and is said to be about three or four thousand feet high. Sad mischief has been done by this burning mountain, time back; villages, towns, and cities have been buried by the lava, stones, ashes, and cinders thrown out of it. It is one of those wonderful things that we cannot understand, boys. We can see in it the power of God; and, if we do not see in it the wisdom of God, it is because of our dim-sightedness.

The thoughts of God are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts."

"What other wonderful things have you seen?"

"What wonderful things! Why every thing in the world is wonderful. I have seen storms, and icebergs, and whirlpools, and water-spouts, high mountains, and fearful waterfalls; but the most wonderful of all the works of creation is man. Well might the psalmist say, 'What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?' Psa. viii. 4. But, boys, we may, perhaps, talk of these things another time. Farewell, for the present: when you next heave in sight, the old sea Captain will look over his log, and find something that will amuse you."

"Thank you, Captain. Thank you."

Punishments-Flogging-Different opinions about punishments -Old Flog-hard-A spread eagle-Injustice and cruelty of the captain-The French frigate-The deck cleared for actionThe captain's threat-The first broadside-The death of Old Flog-hard-The officers and seamen-The chase-Deck cleared for action-Up all hammocks-The waist of the ship-The top-The bo'sun-The carpenter-The gunner-The masterThe lieutenant-The captain-The surgeon-The battleRound, grape, and canister shot, with chain, double-headed, and langrel.

"WHY, what are you about, Captain, with so many things heaped up altogether here! There is no room to come by! What are you about, Captain?"