Jack was on his way to Wynport to join H.M.S. _Fury_. Ten miles beyond Wynport lay the little village of Luscombe, and two miles beyond Luscombe was Bastable Grange, where his mother’s cousin, Humfrey Bastable, lived. Jack had never seen Mr. Bastable; a hundred years ago relatives separated by a hundred miles of turnpike road saw very little of one another. But Mrs. Hardy had been very fond of her Cousin Humfrey when they were boy and girl together, and now that her son was going within easy walking distance of Bastable Grange, she insisted that Jack should go over and pay his respects. Jack had just been transferred to the _Fury_ from the frigate _Ariadne_, much to his disgust. In the _Ariadne_ he had hoped to have an opportunity of joining Admiral Nelson’s fleet and fighting the French; the _Fury_ was engaged in the humdrum and much less heroic work, as Jack regarded it, of hunting smugglers. But Jack was of a cheerful disposition, and by the time he arrived at Wynport he had forgotten his disappointment, for the coachman had let him take the ribbons for five good miles of the road, and he had nearly upset the coach in a ditch, nearly massacred a flock of geese, and nearly taken off the wheel of a carrier’s cart, which was excitement enough for one day. When he arrived at Wynport he found that it would be three or four days before the _Fury_ was ready for sea. To Jack’s eyes she appeared anything but furious, shored up high and dry in the yard, with huge balks of timber supporting her hull. "Wretched cockle-shell!" he said to himself, as he looked at her. But, having several days to spare, he thought he might as well spend the time in looking up his Cousin Bastable. Lieutenant Blake, commanding the _Fury_, good-naturedly gave Mr. Midshipman Hardy leave to visit his mother’s relatives, so Jack slung his valise on to a carrier’s cart that would jog to Bastable in the course of the day, and started to trudge over the cliffs. He had been told that he might save a matter of an hour by taking the shorter road by Wickham Ferrers; but it was a bright September day, exceptionally hot for the time of year, and there was more chance of a breeze by the cliffs. Besides, Jack preferred when he could to keep within sight of the sea.