"Well, sir, you were a true prophet this time," replied the first mate equally well pleased at the result, although it went against his own prognostication; "I only hope you'll get the fore-peak free as easily; for, then, we'll float on an even keel." "All right, my boy, so we will," said Captain Miles; and he then ordered the hands to bend the end of the hose down into the forepart of the ship below that part of the forecastle where the men bunked, the other end of the hose being attached to the pump cylinder. This job was a heavier one than that of clearing the main hold, the men having to be relieved in spells; but, after several hours' hard work, the bows of the ship were sensibly lightened of the extra water ballast we had carried here, and by the afternoon this part of the vessel was also clear. Meanwhile, however, Jake had announced that breakfast was ready and on the cabin table. This was the first hot meal we had had the chance of partaking of now for four days, and it may be imagined with what gusto we all enjoyed it I should add that, Captain Miles, liking good living himself, took care that the men all round had an equally good spread, sharing his own private stores liberally, so that those in the forecastle fared as sumptuously as we did. The captain did this out of his own innate good nature; but, had he been generous merely as an act of policy, it could not have served him in better stead, the sailors working all the afternoon and far into the night with all the greater willingness in setting the ship to rights as a return for the kindness he had displayed. None wanted driving to make them stick to their several tasks. Mr Marline had believed that when the fore-peak was clear of water the _Josephine_, which until then had her bows almost level with the sea, would have recovered her proper floatation; but, although her head now rose, she displayed a decided list to starboard that became the more apparent as her head became elevated more and more. "Some of the cargo must have shifted," said Captain Miles; and with him, true sailor as he was, to discover a fault was to suggest a remedy. "We must take off the battens of the main hatch," he cried. "Mr Marline, stop rigging those sticks for a bit. It is far more important for our stowage to be true before we take any more of the heavy spars on board; for, if we meet with any bad weather, we may turn the turtle again and not come out of it so cleverly as we managed on the first occasion!" "All right, sir," replied the mate, ordering the hands under his orders on the forecastle to move aft, where, under the captain's directions, the hatches were taken off and the cargo exposed to view. A pair of shears were then rigged up over the hold, on which a running tackle with blocks and falls was rigged; when, after several puncheons of rum had been hoisted out, it was found that the lover tier of the cargo had lurched over at the time the ship careened.