"Oh! D'Arcy, my dear fellow, do have the kindness to heave me overboard," he groaned out. "I can be of no further use to any one in this world, and it would be a charity to put me out of it. It would, indeed, I assure you." "Oh, nonsense, Sharpe," I answered. "You are speaking gross folly: only your sea-sickness excuses you." "Now, don't scold me, Neil,--don't," he replied. "If you felt as I do, you would not be inclined to be very sensible." "Well, then, get up, and be a man," said I. "If you give in like that, and fancy yourself dying, and all sorts of things, you deserve to be thrown overboard; though I'm not the person going to do it." "All hands shorten sail!" sung out Adam Stallman, who had charge of the deck. I sprang up the companion-ladder, followed by Dicky, and from that moment he forgot all about his sea-sickness. We soon got the little craft under snug canvas, and time it was to do so; for, as man-of-war's men often do small craft, we had been treating her like a big ship, and carrying on till the last moment. Never had the _Thisbe_ been shoved through the water, probably, at the rate we had lately been going; but more haste the worst speed, as we ran a great chance of proving to our cost, for we were very near carrying the masts over the sides, or making the small craft turn the turtle. For two days we beat up against the gale, not one of us keeping a dry thread on our backs; but after forty-eight hours of a good honest blow, the wind seemed to have done enough for the present, and turning into a light baffling breeze, left us to make an easy, though slow, passage across the blue calm sea. This sort of weather continued till we made the mountainous and wild-looking coast of the island of Cephalonia. We ran in close along shore, as there are no rocks to bring up a vessel; and, standing up a deep bay on the western side, with Guardiana, or Lighthouse Island, on the north, dropped our anchor off Argostoli, the chief town. Most of the people were ordered to keep quiet below, while Mr Vernon, in plain clothes, went on shore in the dinghy. He came back in a short time, and reported that he could gain no tidings answering to the description of the _William_. My own knowledge of Cephalonia is but slight; but Stallman, who had been there before, gave me some information about it. It is one of the Ionian Islands, under the protection of England, and had an English garrison, at that time consisting of about five hundred of the rifle brigade. Thanks to Sir Frederick Adams, the country appears to be in a flourishing condition; the roads are excellent, and the inhabitants cultivate not only the fertile valleys, but every inch of soil to be found among its rocky heights. There is another neatly-built and pleasantly--situated town, called Luxuria, about three miles from Guardiana.