Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page scan source: https://books.google.com/books?id=u3spAQAAIAAJ (the University of California) THE SEAFARERS BY THE SAME AUTHOR A Bitter Heritage. Fortune's My Foe. The Scourge of God. Across the Salt Seas. The Clash of Arms. Denounced. In the Day of Adversity. The Hispaniola Plate. The Desert Ship. A Gentleman Adventurer. The Silent Shore. His Own Enemy. THE SEAFARERS BY JOHN BLOUNDELLE-BURTON AUTHOR OF 'THE CLASH OF ARMS' 'FORTUNE'S MY FOE,' 'ACROSS THE SALT SEAS' LONDON C. ARTHUR PEARSON LIMITED HENRIETTA STREET W.C. 1900 TO ALL OLD FRIENDS AND COMRADES WHO HAVE BEEN, OR ARE STILL SEAFARERS EITHER IN THE ROYAL NAVY OR OTHER BRANCHES OF THE SEA SERVICE I INSCRIBE THIS BOOK CONTENTS CHAP. 1. 'Sweeter than Blue-Eyed Violets or the Damask Rose' 2. Stephen Charke 3. 'Let those love now who never loved before' 4. Portsmouth _en fête_ 5. 'So farewell, Hope!' 6. 'And bend the gallant Mast, my Boys' 7. 'An Ocean Waif' 8. 'His Name is--What?' 9. 'Through the Salt Sea Foam' 10. The Growing Terror 11. The Terror increases 12. Stricken 13. 'Spare her! Spare her!' 14. Struck down 15. A Light from the Past 16. Man overboard 17. 'Farewell, my Rival' 18. 'She will never know' 19. 'I almost dreaded this Man once' 20. 'I do believe you' 21. Washed ashore 22. A Sailor's Knife 23. 'The Tiger did that' 24. Beaten! Defeated! 25. 'I have loved my last' 26. 'Here is my Journey's End' CHAPTER I 'SWEETER THAN BLUE-EYED VIOLETS OR THE DAMASK ROSE' That Bella Waldron should have felt sad, and her night's rest have been disturbed in consequence, was, in the circumstances, most natural. For one cannot suppose that any young girl leaves her home, her mother, and her country without much grief and perturbation; without tears and sorrow and heavy sighs, as well as tremendous fears that she may never return to, nor see, them again. And such is what Bella was about to do when this particular night should have come to an end: she was about to traverse not one ocean, but two; to pass from a life that, if not luxurious, was at least comfortable, to another which, if more brilliant, would undoubtedly be strange, and, consequently, not easily to be adopted at first. In fact, to go from one side of the world to the other.