In Greek Waters

the agent giving a formal receipt and possession of the vessel, and und

eap at that. Now the first thing to do is to get first and second mates. Directly I have got them I can put a gang of riggers on board. I will go to the Naval Club, and see the list of the officers on board the ships here. I am pretty sure to know some of them, and shall find out from them whether th

ly in the way when people who know each other are talking. And besides, Marty

re they keep really decent togs. A man often has to join in a hurry, and wants a fit-out at half an hour's notice. Then I can order the rest of the things at the tailor's I used to get my clothes from. 'Pon my word, now you speak of it, I am ashamed to be going out in these things. They were an old suit that I pu

p the undress uniform of a li

d just come down to join his ship, which was to sail in a few hours, and as he stepped off the coach was served with a writ by a Jew he had borrowed

got the benefit of it. Now, Horace, I can show at the Club. Just take your knife out and cut th

the main street whe

u?" and a young officer sh

is three years since we ran against each other last; five si

e other day; he told me he had run across you at Malta, and that you ha

week, and I have had the luck to get a fresh appointment, and that is what I am here for. I was just on my way to the Club to see if I could find any of my old chums. You are just the fellow to help me. But first let me introduce Mr. Beveridge. H

ght she was as pretty a looking craft as I ever set eyes on. I congratulate you, old fellow. There are not many things that yo

ey might not look upon it as a breach of the neutrality laws. Mr. Beveridge is an enthusiast for the cause of Greece, and we are going to take out a c

g in Plymouth Sound with nothing to do but to see the men holy-stone the d

ho has passed, and could take the command in case anything happened to me. I don't car

ou, for your first. There

erva frigate in the West Indies. He w

He gave me his address; here it is-the Anchor Inn; it is a little place not far from the dock gates. I expect Jim has no money to spare. His father is a clergyman near Falmouth. I asked him why he didn't

is just one o'clock, and we

x o'clock, Martyn? We can chat there better than we can on boa

, and then Martyn and Horac

be much to be got, because there are not many craft flying the Turkish flag, and the seas will be swarming with Greek craft who are half-pirates even in time of peace. Still we may captu

aking money by the thing, and I can certainly promise

lthough officers might go without, you would hardly get men t

must make all these arrangements just as if you were the owner, and please arrange what you consider liberal terms to everyone. My father has made up his mind to spend a certain sum of money which he has long laid by for the p

t young fellow of about his own age, with a good-humoured

, let me introduce to you Mr. James Miller, first

nd I am precious glad now I didn't, for I should have been mad if I had met Martyn, and found I had missed this chan

yet, for he was laid on the shelf four months before his time was up, and not having passed, of course he is even worse off than either of us. Not that it matters so much to him, for his father has an estate; but as Jack is the second son, and loves his profession, he is so anxious to be afloat again that he told Miller the other day he would

said. "I shall be regarded as a sort of third officer, and do my work regularly while we are at se

-ton yacht I picked up for him, and a first-rate little craft she is. He went

a plucky thing it was. That is capital. Then you will be like o

nd a craft always looks different when you know she is yours. After making an overhaul we will go ashore to the nearest yard and arrange for her to be docked, and her bottom cleaned and scrubbed; I expect it wants it pretty badly. That will be en

re you going to

g, and I have no doubt she shows a good spread of sail; those craft always do. We shall want a strong crew, for, if we fight at all, it will be against craft a good deal bigger than ou

ce said, "so as to be able to land a strong party if we

can't get enough here, we will sail her round to Portsmouth and fill up there. There ought to be

y fitted up in mahogany. Leading off this, on the port side, was a large cabin that had evidently been the captain's. This, of course, would be Mr. Beveri

three cabins on the starboard side. Horace will take one of the three, I suppose, a

ou thinking

ight, it is not by any means impossible t

ay it was quite possi

ancy we might patch it up between us with a bit of plaster and a bandage; but if it comes to an

ake a surgeon with us. It would never do to go into action in the Levant, where there is n

hat is an absolute necessity. Will

bout for a few years in the navy, and who has had some experience in gunshot wounds. There must be plenty of good men about, for they have suffered just as we have by the reduction. I will speak to Dacent a

ith us. Only one can sleep in the steward's cabin, so we shall want a small cabin for the other and a place for

ulkhead up across the deck, seven or eight feet farther forward. I have not forgotten that Greek's cooking; a

must own, Martyn, though I can

efer having the cabin astern all to yourselves? When we are about it w

than being by himself. My father is a great scholar," he explained to Miller, "and is always poring over books. I am sure it will do him a lot of good getting away from them altogether and being with people. B

ide. On getting back to the inn Horace wrote to his father on the various questions that had arisen, and then to Marco, telling him to come over

hey may not be able to supply you with as many small-arms as you want; but if you give them an order for a thousand cannon, I have not a doubt they could execute it in twenty-four hours, and that at the price of old iron. As to the muskets, they could no doubt collect a big lot here, and get more still from Portsmouth. Those of course

buy them for?"

f the armies of native princes in India. I think, if I were you, I would not go to him direct, but would get the agent

n gets a commission he has no interest in keeping the price down; just the contrary. I will ask him casually, to begin with, what is the

tting rid of them. I should say that you could get a couple of hundred guns of those sizes to-morrow for a pound apiece, and I believe that you might almost get them for the trouble of carting away, for they are simply so much lumber. Powder is a glut in

arrived there. He was a good-looking young fellow, nearly six feet in height, slight at present, but likely to fill out, with a somewhat quiet manner, but, as Horace soon found, a qui

ng almost as if I was rusting out at Seaport, except when you were at home. Why,

the dock again with her copper scrubbed until it shone like gold. Miller had as yet

k you up some prime hands. If I can't get enough of them here, I will take a run to Bristol. There is a big

aport, Tom?"

bigger craft. Besides, though fishermen are good sailors in some ways, they are not accustomed to discipline, and are always slovenly in their way of doing things. Besides, if I pe

come from Mr. Beveridge in

being disabled, I shall settle upon them a pension the same as that to which they would have been entitled at their rank in the navy in the same case. The ship appears to me to be wonderfully cheap. I knew nothing about it, but quite expected that it would cost three times as much. Certainly I should not wish for them to have a separate cabin. It will be much more pl

ge frigate, where they had a good deal of experience in wounds, and he has a high idea of his skill. He is a very quiet sort of fellow, but a pleasant messmate. He has been full surgeon for some time now. His ship was paid off a fortnight ago, and the man who told me of him had a letter from him

hat will be just

o write and offer him the berth at the regular naval rate of pay.

eply was received,

rs and painters had finished their work, the decks had been planed and holy-stoned until they were spotlessly white, and the tall spars and gear were all in their place. The guns had cost only about as much as Miller had said, and they could have obtained any number at the same price. The agent had made a contract with the ship's chandlers for five thousand muskets complete with bayonets, in good order, and delivered on board, at ten shillings each. Some five hundre

p at Plymouth twenty-five smart sailors, all of whom had served in king's ships; and then, going to Bristol, had brought as many more from there. Uniforms, closely resembling those of men-of-war sailors, had b

take their powder on board, and would remain at anchor off the magazines, and that he himself should be at the Falcon when it was time for the first coach to arrive after the receipt of his letter,

as a tall bony man climbed down from the roof, an

acfarlane?" he said, going up

id; "I take it as a sign that I shall have a pleasant time

ll we hoist the flag to-morrow. This is Mr. Beveridge, the owner's son, he will sail with u

he coffee-room. I am not fond of trusting to other folk;

d right enough to be so; I think we shall like him. There is a pleasant tone in his voice

or soon

lisbury. And so, Mr. Beveridge, we are going out to fight for the Greeks. I misdoubt, sir, if they will do much fighting for themselves. I was three yea

much chance, I thin

ptain Martyn?" the doctor said,

of water and would not carry that, yet she has excellent acc

h Martyn and the doctor knew; and when they separated for the evening Martyn and H

bin, and these had arrived in such profusion that Will Martyn had demanded whe

een taken to get the military stores on board as quietly as possible. Sympathy with Greece was general, however, and although the young

uff out of her. One way or another she will have a hundred and twenty tons of stuff on board when we have taken in our powder, and though I don't at all say th

speed won't matter much on

If you have a slow craft you don't mind whether other things leave you behind in an hour or two hours; you jog along and you don't worry about it; you are like a man driving a heavy

l beat her in look

ite certain. Sh

eton stood at the top of the ladder to receive the captain as he ca

or getting under we

g quite re

e chain a bit; m

rang out loudly; the capstan-bars were already fixed, and a do

rt, sir," Tarleton

, Mr. Tarleton. Will you

e halliards were belayed and coiled down, the capstan-bars were manned again, and the anchor weighed. The tide had just turne

"let her come round easy. Slack off the main-sheet; t

ut of the river the sheets were hauled in, the yards of the fore-topsail were braced as much fore and aft as they would stand, and the Creole turned her head seaward

er rarely, Miller," Will Martyn

d that, considering how close-hauled she is

of that stuff out of her. Those slavers know how to build, and no mis

et things shape down a bit. When the trip was over there was not a man on board but was in the state of the highest satisfaction with the craft. Both close-hauled on the way out and free on her return they had passed seve

hat they had taken on board beyond a crust of bread and cheese in the middle of the day, and as they sat down, Will Martyn taking the head of the table, Horace, as his father's representative, facing him, and the other

of thing that I have always fancied it would be if it had entere

ir, and as if I oughtn't

eck, as we agreed, we would have things in man-of-war fashion; but we a

y Martyn's encomiums of the Greek's cooking they were far surpassed by the reality. "It is a dinner f

shall never be fit for service in an ordinary craft again, we shall beco

uence about every three or four months, he often has the dinner altogether in his hands till a fresh one arrives, and I am amused sometimes to see how Zaimes fidgets when my father, which is often the case, is so occupied with his own thoughts that he eats mechanically and does not notice what is before him. Zaimes stands it for a minute or two and then asks some question or makes so

od bless him;' that is duty. Now fill up again, here is 'Succ

father pick th

ey had resisted. Four of the men with them had been killed in the fight, and several of the Turks. These two had been both severely wounded and made prisoners. My father was new to that sort of thing then. After he had been a year or two in Greece he knew that it would take a king's fortune to buy out all the prisoners in the Turkish

ling at daybreak next morning. My father went with them, and after that they absolutely refused to leave him, and travelled with him in Greece for some time and fought very pluckily when some Klepts once tried to carry him away into the mountains. Then he bought a small craft and established hi

at the smallest provocation, and there is no trade they take so kindly to as that of a bandit; otherwise I believe they are honest hardworking fellows. But as for the upper class of Greeks, the less I have to do with the

he way of lying generally, and their descendants have never amended their ways in that particular since. On more than one occasion, when there was trouble between our sailors and the Greeks, I attended their courts, and for good downright hard swearing I never heard them approached. I d

hers l

heard from Europeans who are out there of what has

tion. It has been so since the days of Herodotus. When a man gets away from his own country he is apt to get a c

if you will go along the main-deck and see that the men are making themselves comfortable; to-morrow w

charged three days before from the coaster that had brought it from Liverpool. The flat had therefore only to be towed alongside and the cases swung on board and lowered into a portion of the hold that had been divided off from the rest by thick bulkheads to f

urf, Dick," Horace said as he stopped a momen

upright here. But the S

be called lieutenants and not mates) and Horace took the starboard watch, Tarleton and the boatswain the port watch. The men were formed up, inspected, and put through cutlass drill

of men. If we meet anything about our own size I shall have no fear of giving a good account of her. I have no opinion whatever o

kely to meet anythin

le they scuttle any ship they may seize and nothing is ever known about her. Ships can't be too careful when they are in Greek waters, and a vessel wrecked on any of the islands is looked upon as a lawful prize. There is no fear of our being taken by surprise by the Turks, but I shall take precious good care that we are never ca