‘Now,’ thought I, as, according to my custom, instead of crawling into the little cabins, which were not much better than the hold of the ship which had carried Wooroo from Guinea, I laid myself down on deck, well muffled up in old sails, to keep the heavy dews away—‘Now,’ thought I, ‘I have heard of kings and queens who slept on beds whereof the curtains were heavy with pearls, all glittering in their lustre above them, but here am I now, and here be a fleet of us poor sea-tossed mariners sleeping upon a bed with more pearls beneath and around us than there are in the treasuries and the thrones, and on the royal bed-curtains to boot, of London, or Paris, or Madrid.’ I know not whether the kings and queens whereof I have spoken slept the better for the pearls above them; I know I slept well with pearls below me, being indeed favoured, perhaps by St. Gieronimo, with a vision in which I saw the ‘Will-o’-the Wisp’ suddenly appear in the midst of the Pearl Fleet and engage the Spanish frigate, Stout Jem himself fighting in single combat with the captain, and at length, by one stout thrust, pinning him to his own mainmast; when, just as I was about to spring forward to haul down the golden flag of Spain from the man-of-war’s topmast, a loud voice, coming from real flesh and blood lungs, smote my ear, and, starting up, I saw Captain Garbo and the rest scrambling through the hatchways in their shirts, while the anchor watch was shouting lustily that there was a strange vessel rowing with sweeps through the fleet, and that he had even heard the muttering of the voices on board of her. At this, I confess very willingly, my heart made a leap into my mouth. Was my dream a true vision—was Stout Jem, indeed, so near? We all held our peace and listened, but we heard nothing. It was now quite dark. The night had got cloudy, and there were neither stars nor moon. The air, too, was quite still, and the tap-tap of the water against the ridges of overlapping planks on the clinker-built side of the boat, as she rocked slowly on the swell, was the only sound we could distinguish. The lights of the other barks were gleaming on the dark ocean, and the two lanterns of the frigate swayed slowly from side to side, as though they were meteors playing among the stars. ‘Tush, Pedro,’ said Captain Garbo,’ you fell asleep, man, and dreamed you saw a ghost. You deserve to be dipped alongside, just to waken you.’