“If you please, captain, will you ’ave the kindness to take me on board of the Guardian-Mother? for the young gentleman as owns her--Mr. Belgrave--told me as ’ow I should go with him,” said Baldy, who perhaps thought the commander had a veto on the promises of the juvenile owner. “If Mr. Belgrave said you were to go on board, that is enough, in spite of any other person,” replied the captain, laughing at the simplicity of the cook. “I should not be likely in any case to leave you, or any other human being, in such a desolate place as this sandbank. I don’t understand this business at all. What is that wreck on the shore of the passage through?” “That is the wreck of the Phantom, which she was burned the day we got ’ere by a hagent of Captain Scoble,” replied Baldy. The commander of the steamer realized that there was a history to the expedition he had sent down the coast to look for the Maud, but he did not care to hear it mangled by the cook; and he hastened back to the boat, anxious now only to relieve the discomfort, if not the distress, of the owner of the Guardian-Mother. He put Baldy in the fore-sheets, and took his place in the stern. “Up oars!” said the captain, who seemed to be in the practice of naval discipline; and at the command six of the eight oars went up to a perpendicular position. “Shove off!” he added; and the two bowmen pushed the boat from the sand into deep water. “Let fall!” and the oars dropped into the water as one. “Stern all! Give way!” The barge, for that was the name of the owner’s boat, backed away from the shore, then came about, and pulled for the steamer. Captain Ringgold said nothing; and Louis did not feel like talking, for his stomach was still bothering him. He did not feel quite at home in the luxurious furnishings of the barge; but he looked the men at the oars over, and thought he had never seen a finer-looking set of seamen. They were all dressed in uniform, and on their naval caps were ribbons bearing the name of the steamer, Guardian-Mother, in gilt letters. The shipmaster had certainly attended to the smaller details of the fitting out of the vessel. As the boat passed the bows of the steam-yacht, Louis discovered the name again; and he wondered at the expedition the captain had used in preparing the craft, though he had been thus occupied for three days. The boat went to the after-gangway, where the steps had been rigged out; and the commander assisted his youthful owner to mount to the deck. Louis was inclined to pause and admire the appearance of everything that met his gaze, but the considerate captain hurried him to the cabin. “I am afraid you will get sick out of this affair, Louis,” said the commander very tenderly, as he seated him on a sofa. “I am sorry to find you in this feeble condition.”