Anxious as I was, I could still find time to admire the courage of this girl. At no sacrifice of modesty--no, not even to the awakening of an instant's mirth in me--was her noble and beautiful bravery illustrated. Her pluck was so grand an expression of her English character, that no emotion but that of profound admiration of her moral qualities could have been inspired in the mind of any man who beheld her. I took care not to go further than the mizzen-rigging, so that Cornish should distinguish nothing but our figures; and after we had paraded the deck awhile I asked her to stand near the quarter-boat in which I had placed the box. I then got on to the rail and fished out the box smartly, and stood it on the rail. "Keep your hand upon it," said I, "that it may not roll overboard." With which I walked right up to Cornish. "Does she steer steady?" "True as a hair." "I left my coat this afternoon in one of the quarter-boats. Have you seen it?" "No." "Perhaps it's in the starboard-boat." I pretended to search, and then drawing close to Miss Robertson, said quickly-- "Creep away now. Keep close to the rail and crouch low. Get to your cabin and change your dress. Roll the clothes you are wearing in a bundle and hide them for the present." She glided away on her little feet, stooping her head to a level with the rail. All was quiet forward--the main-deck deserted. I waited some seconds, standing with my hand on the box, and then I shoved it right overboard. It fell just as I had expected, with a thumping splash. Instantly I roared out, "Man overboard! Down with your helm! The bo'sun's gone!" and to complete the imposture I bounded aft, cut away a life-buoy, and flung it far into the darkness astern. Cornish obeyed me literally; put the helm right down, and in a few moments the sails were shaking wildly. "Steady!" I shouted. "Aft here and man the port main-braces! Bear a hand! the bo'sun's overboard!" My excitement made my voice resonant as a trumpet, and the men in both watches came scampering along the deck. The shaking of the canvas, the racing of feet, my own and the cries of the crew, produced, as you may credit, a fine uproar. Of course I had foreseen that there would be no danger in bringing the ship aback. The wind though fresh was certainly not strong enough to jeopardize the spars; moreover, the sea had moderated. Up rushed the carpenter in a very short time, rather the worse, I thought, for the dose he had swallowed. "What's the matter! What the devil is all this?" he bellowed, lurching from side to side as the ship rolled, for we were now broadside on. "The bo'sun has fallen overboard!" I shouted in his ear; and I had need to shout, for the din of the canvas was deafening. "Do you say the bo'sun?" he bawled. "Yes. What shall we do? is it too dark to pick him up?"