me, out of kindness, no doubt; and the ship was hull-down on the horizon, to my fancy with somewhat of a figure like _hers_, when she stood with the Cashmere shawl over her head in the dusk. Then I went gloomily down to my berth, where I kept close by myself till I fell asleep, though the gun-room steward was sent more than once to ask me to join the officers. It wasn’t till the next day, in fact, when I went on the quarterdeck at noon, wearied for a fresher gulp of air, that I saw any of them; and the breeze having fallen lighter that morning, they were too busy trimming sail and humouring her to give me much notice. I must say I had seldom seen a commander seem more impatient about the sailing of his craft, in time of peace, than the captain of the Podargus appeared to be; walking the starboard side as fast as the halt in his gait would let him, and the anxious turn of his eyes plainer than before, while he looked from the brig’s spread of stu’nsails to the horizon, through the glass, which, I may say, he never once laid down. From where the brig spoke the Indiamen, to St Helena, would be about two or three days’ sail with a fair wind, at the ordinary strength of the south-east trade; though, at this rate, it might cost us twice the time. I noticed the men on the forecastle look to each other now and then knowingly, at some fresh sign of the captain’s impatience; and the second lieutenant told me in a low voice, with his head over the side near mine, Captain Wallis had been out of sorts ever since they lost sight of the island. “You’d suppose, sir,” said he, laughing, “that old Nap was his sweetheart, by the way he watches over him; and now, I fancy, he’s afraid St Helena may be sunk in blue water while we were away! In fact, Mr Westwood,” added he, “it looks devilish like as if it had come up from Davy Jones, all standing; so I don’t see why it shouldn’t go down to him again some day; I can tell you it’s tiresome work cruising to windward there, though, and we aren’t idle at all!” “Did you ever see the French Emperor yourself, sir?” asked I—for I must say the thought of nearing the prison such a man was in made me a little curious. “Never, sir, except at a mile’s distance,” said the second lieutenant; “indeed, it’s hard to get a pass, unless you know the governor. But I’ve a notion,” continued he, “the governor’s carefulness is nothing to our skipper’s! Indeed, they tell a queer story of how Sir Hudson Lowe was gulled for months together, when he was governor of Capri island, in the Mediterranean. As for the captain, again, you’d seek a long time ere you found a better seaman—he’s as wide awake, too, as Nelson himself—while the curious thing is, I believe, he never once clapped eyes on Bonaparte in his life! But good cause he has to hate him, you know, Mr Westwood!” “Indeed,” said I, taking a moment’s interest in the thing; and I was just going to ask the reason, when the first lieutenant came over to say.