"'You must be a thorough good sailor by this time, Collins,' continued he, 'if you have gone on at the rate you used to do. I remember how fond you were of having charge for a minute or two of the old _Orion_, or when I let you put her about in my watch. Why they called you "Young Green" I never could understand, unless it was _ut lucus a non lucendo_, as we used to say at Eton, you know. Well, what do you say?' Now, as you may suppose, the idea of boxing about St Helena, for Heaven knew how long, didn't at all suit my liking--with the thought of the _Seringapatam_ steering away from Bombay the whole time, and a hundred notions of Violet Hyde in India--'twould have driven me madder than the Temple did Captain Wallis: but it was only the _first_ part of my mind I gave Lord Frederick. 'What!' exclaimed he, with a flush over his face, and drawing up his tall figure, 'you didn't suppose, _I_ should remain here? Why, the _Hebe_ is on her way for Calcutta and Canton, and will sail as soon as the _Conqueror_ arrives at Jamestown with Admiral Plampin.' 'Your lordship is very kind,' said I, looking down to cover my delight; 'and if I am not worthy of the post it shan't be my fault, Lord Frederick.' 'Ah, very good!' said he smiling; ''tis an opportunity you oughtn't to let slip, Collins, let me tell you! For my own part, I should just as soon cut out a pirate in the Straits of Malacca as a French brig in the Channel; and there are plenty of them, I hear, there. As for a chase, sir, I flatter myself you won't easily see a finer thing than the _Hebe_ spreading her cloth after one of those fast proas will be--I think you are just the fellow to make her walk, too, Mr Collins--pah! to compare a day on the Derby turf with _that_, would be a sin! You have no idea, sir, how one longs for a fair horizon again, and brisk breezes, when so ineffably tired out of all those ball-rooms, and such things as you see about town just now--only I fear I shall wish to be second lieutenant again, eh?'