Captain Talbot was rather, as he afterwards told, "taken aback," but he said: "Won't you have a glass of sherry and a biscuit, sir?" "Thanks, very much--no," replied the other, and stepped on shore, while the surprise of Talbot increased very much when he read the letter twice over, and then starting up, ordered Joe Grummet to "pipe all hands," and bring them aft, "and run the ensign up to the gaff." "Hats off, my lads," said the Captain, his face glowing with pleasure; "for this comes from the Queen's representative." The letter, of which we only give an outline, proved to be from "His Excellency Lord Oakhampton, K.C.B., Governor of the Bermuda Islands, &c. &c.," warmly recommending Mr. Derval Hampton to his captain and owners for his gallant conduct, which was fully detailed therein; and congratulating Captain Talbot on having such an officer under him in the _Amethyst_. Whereupon Joe Grummet took off his old battered tarpauline hat, from a head that was getting grey now, and led the van of three stentorian cheers for the third mate; and Derval heard them, as he had heard the letter, with cheeks flushing scarlet, like those of a school-girl, and a wildly beating heart. And in honour of the whole event, which Hal Bowline duly engrossed on the ship's log, Joe Grummet's whistle was next heard, summoning all hands to "splice the main-brace," an invitation never unattended to by sailors, as they are ever ready for a glass of grog. The ship was now getting ready for sea, the hatches were being battened down, the boats hoisted in, the studding-sail gear rove, the royal yards crossed, &c., and Derval was compelled to spend much of his time on board of the _Amethyst_; and now came the last day he could pass, perhaps, on shore. Unconsciously he wandered to the little dell of the palmetto and other trees, the coral cliff and the salt pool, all of which impressed him so deeply as the scene of a startling adventure. A fragment of Clara's muslin dress yet fluttered from the laurel stump by which her fall had been arrested, either on the rocks below or into the pool, where sharks were as usual swimming whenever the flood tide floated them in; and as Derval surveyed the cliff up which he had clambered to her assistance, now, when he had not the impetus of excitement, he thought himself a very clever fellow, but doubted whether he could achieve the same feat again. Something glittering at the foot of the cliff caught his eye. It was a locket of gold, the size of a florin, with the name _Clara_ in pearls on one side--an ornament doubtless lost by Miss Hampton on the day in question, and he speedily possessed himself of it. Opening it, he found that it was empty, but prepared at once to restore it, and do what the rules of society required, to leave with it a farewell card at Government House.