more comfortable, I can tell you, and we began to talk over the matter; for you see the cat should not have been thrown overboard, but put on shore; but we were called away to man the boat again, for the fellow had come to his senses, and swore that he would not stay in the ship, but go on shore and take the law of the first mate; and the first mate and captain thought the sooner he was out of the ship the better, for we were to sail before daylight, and there might not be a wherry for him to get into; so the fellow took his kit, and we pulled him on shore and landed him on Southsea beach, he swearing vengeance the whole way; and as he stepped out on the beach he turned round to us, and said, as he shook his fist, You've thrown overboard a black tom cat, recollect that! and now you'll see the consequence; a pleasant voyage to you,—I wouldn't sail in that vessel if you were to offer her to me as a present as soon as she got to Smyrna; because why-you've thrown overboard a black tom cat, and you'll never get there-never,' cried he again, and off he ran with his bundle.

"Well, we didn't much like it, and if the second mate hadn't been in the boat, I'm not sure that we shouldn't all have gone on shore rather than sail in the vessel; but there was no help for it. The next morning before daylight we started, for the captain wouldn't wait to get another hand, and we were soon out of soundings, and well into the Bay of Biscay.

"We had just passed Cape Finisterre, when Jim, the cabin-boy, says, one morning, 'I'm blessed if I didn't hear that cat last night, or the ghost on it!' So we laughed at him; for, you see, he slept abaft,

just outside the cabin-door, close to the pantry, and not forward with the rest of us.

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'Well,' says he, 'I heard her miaul, and when I awoke I think I seed two eyes looking at me.'

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'Well, Jim,' said I, for we had got over our fears, 'it was you who knocked her overboard; so it's all right that she should haunt you and nobody else.' Jim, however, could not laugh, but looked very grave and unhappy. A few days afterwards, the captain and passenger complained that they could not sleep for the noise and racket that was kept up all night between the timbers and in the run aft. They said it was as if a whole legion of devils were broken loose and scampering about: and the captain was very grave; and as for the passenger, he was frightened out of his wits. Still we laughed, because we had heard nothing ourselves, and thought it must only be fancy on their part, particularly as the captain used to bowse his jib up pretty taut every night. Well, all went on very well; we arrived at the Rock, got our fresh provisions and vegetables, and then made sail again. The captain complained of no more noises, and Jim of no more eyes, and the whole matter was almost forgotten."

Here the narrator was interrupted by the thumping of a handspike on the deck above.

"Halloo! what's the matter now!"

"Come, tumble up, my lads, and pump the ship out," said the mate from above; we had almost forgotten that. Be smart now, it's but a ten minutes' job."

Thus broke off the story, much to my annoyance; but it could not be helped,-ships must be pumped out,—so the men went on deck, and I followed them.

CHAPTER XXIII.

RECOLLECT," SAYS THE FELLOW, "YOU HAVE THROWN OVER BOARD A BLACK TOM CAT!"

In a quarter of an hour the pump sucked, and we all hastened down below to our grog and the completion As soon as we were all comfortably seated as before, Dick recommenced.

of our yarn.

"Well, we were abreast of Malta, when the weather, which had hitherto on the voyage been very fine, changed. The clouds hung down very heavy, and there was every symptom of a fierce gale; and sure enough a worse gale I never was in than came on that night,and such a sea !—the ship rolled gunnel under, for the gale was fair, but the sea ran so high and so fast, that we expected to be pooped every minute. It was about midnight, when the rain came on in torrents, and the wind blew fiercer than ever. I was on deck, and so was the first mate, and another man at the helm, for we were flying right before it, and she was hard to steer. "We shall have it worse yet,' said the captain.

"Miaw!' was the reply; so clear, so loud, we could not tell where it came from. I thought it came from the maintop.

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Mercy on us! what was that?' said the first mate, the light from the binnacle showing his face as pale as a sheet.

"Miaw! was the reply from somewhere.

"The black cat, by all that's blue!' cried the captain.

P

"The Lord have mercy upon us, we're all gone!' said the mate, clasping his hands in terror. To clasp his hands, of course he let go the wheel; and the other man, who was equally frightened, had not strength to hold it. Away he went, right over the wheel, knocking down the mate on the other side; and the ship taking a heavy lurch, they both went into the scuppers together. The ship broached to; and our mainmast and mizenmast went over the side.

"Do top that glim, Bill," said one of the men, in a tremulous voice.

Dick paused while the snuff was taken off the candle; and the water went tap, tap, tap against the bends, with a most melancholy sound.

I really did feel rather queer myself.

Dick continued,—" Well, all hands were on deck immediately; and it was good two hours before we could clear the wreck, for the men were disheartened. They had heard the loud miaw when in the fore peak, and declared that it was close to them; and the passenger and Jim came out, frightened out of their wits. They had heard the miaw, and said that it was from under the cabin table. At last we were clear of the wreck, and the wind roared louder than ever.

"The captain was a stouthearted fellow, and as the men were collected together under the bulwark, he said, 'Well, this breeze will shorten our distance at any rate, and, if it holds, we shall soon be at Smyrna.' "We shall never see Smyrna!' replied the second mate, his teeth chattering.

"No, never!' cried the seamen.

"The captain sent Jim down for his rum bottle, and

gave every man a stiff glass of liquor, and that made them feel more comfortable for a time; when there was a sort of a lull, and again the loud miaw was repeated.

"There it is!' cried the men; but they hardly had time to say so, when the ship was pooped with a tremendous sea, washing away the stern and quarter boats, and sending all the men swimming forward. So loaded was the ship with water, that she stopped, and appeared as if she was settling down. At last she rolled heavy to port and discharged it, and away we went before the wind, faster than ever. Well, there was some talk among the seamen of throwing poor Jim overboard to appease the ghost of the cat, for it was he who had thrown the cat overboard. But the captain heard what the men were saying, and he swore that he would knock the brains out of the first man who laid hold of the boy; and he sent Jim below out of harm's way. Poor Jim! how bitterly he cried, poor boy, when he heard what was going on.

"Well, it's a long lane that has no turning, and no gale lasts for ever: the next day it moderated, and the day after the weather was quite fine, and the sea had gone down. We recovered our spirits, the more so, as we heard no more of the cat; and having jury-rigged her aft, we steered our course with a light breeze. We were now but a short distance from Smyrna, and hoped to be there by the next day; but the second mate shook his head; he said, 'The cat has not done with us, for it was a black tom cat.'

"The fourth day the captain came on deck, and said, 'I heard a great washing of water in the run last night, as I thought; have you sounded the well lately?"