MY SHIPMATE LOUISE VOL. III. NEW NOVELS AT ALL LIBRARIES. A FELLOW OF TRINITY. By ALAN ST. AUBYN and WALT WHEELER. 3 vols. THE WORD AND THE WILL. By JAMES PAYN. 3 vols. AUNT ABIGAIL DYKES. By GEORGE RANDOLPH. 1 vol. A WARD OF THE GOLDEN GATE. By BRET HARTE. 1 vol. RUFFINO. By OUIDA. 1 vol. London: CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W. MY SHIPMATE LOUISE The Romance of a Wreck BY W. CLARK RUSSELL [Illustration] IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. III. London CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1890 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME CHAPTER PAGE XXIX. THE CAPTAIN BEGINS A STORY 1 XXX. THE CAPTAIN MAKES A PROPOSAL 21 XXXI. THE FORM OF AGREEMENT 45 XXXII. A TRAGEDY 67 XXXIII. THE CARPENTER CALLS A COUNCIL 90 XXXIV. I ASSENT 116 XXXV. MY CAPTAINCY 140 XXXVI. I CONVERSE WITH WETHERLY 164 XXXVII. CAPE HORN 184 XXXVIII. LAND! 208 XXXIX. THE ISLAND 233 XL. I ESCAPE 256 XLI. WE SAIL AWAY 278 XLII. CONCLUSION 302 MY SHIPMATE LOUISE CHAPTER XXIX THE CAPTAIN BEGINS A STORY For a couple of days nothing that need find a place in this narrative happened. On the afternoon of the third day of our being aboard the barque we sighted a sail, hull down, to windward. I climbed into the main-top and examined her through the glass, and found her a brig, very loftily rigged, her canvas soaring into moonsails, a sight I had never before witnessed at sea, even in those days when ships went more heavily draped than they do in these. She was heading our course, perhaps making a slightly more weatherly navigation, and full blown as she looked to be—a large, soft cloud of canvas in the lenses of the telescope—we passed her at the rate of two feet to her one; and some time before sunset we had sunk her to her royals on the quarter.