Tracks of a Rolling Stone

e, I regret to think, I committed an act which hasoften haunted my conscience as a crime; although I hadfrequently promised

ng junks laden withmerchandise would t

erhaul them. This meant getting back to anine or ten o'clock breakfast at the en

and fearingpunishment if I let her escape, I next aimed at the boatherself. Down came the mainsail in a crack. When I boardedour capture, I found I had put a bullet through the thigh ofthe man at the tiller. Boys are not much troubled withscruples about bloodguiltiness, and no

ccident, which I havealready alluded to,

an, like a Thames barge, driftingdown stream and threatening to foul us. Sir FrederickN

hen an explosion took place. Myfriend was knocked over, and one or two of the men fell backinto the cutter. This is what had happened: Johnson findingno one in the sampan, cautiously raised one of

as my horror when w

n a few minutes his head andface swelled so that all was a round black charred ball. Oneco

mething I could get him. In time herecovered, and was invalided home, and I lost my dearcompanion and protector. A couple of years aft

war, the 'Blonde' wa

us, but then unknown,the Gulf of Liau-t

ing smack. We had been wintering in the Yellow Sea, andat the time I speak of were on a foraging expedition roundthe Liau-tung peninsula. Those who have followed the eventsof the Japanese war will have noticed on the map, not farnorth of Ta-lien-wan in the Korean Bay, three groups ofislands. So little was the geography of these parts thenk

ve no conception of what wind-force can mount to. To be the toy of it is enough to fillthe stoutest heart with awe. The harbour was full oftransports,

madefor it. Boats are dragged far up the beach; buildings evenare fortified for resistance. Every ship had laid out

herewas nothing more to be done; no men could have worked ondeck. The seas broke by tons over all; boats beached asd

ovided with anchors,began to drift from their moorings. Then wreck followedwreck. I do not think the 'Blonde' moved; but from first tolast we were threatened with the additional weight and strainof a drifting vessel.

e, that from where I was holding on and crouching underthe lee of the mainmast I could see the expression of hisface. He was a splendidly built man, and his strength andactivity must have been prodigious. He clung to the cable ofthe merchantman, which he had managed to clasp. As thevesse

m, - a rope's end perhaps flung out to haulhim inboard? Vain desperate hope! He

is head; and when again thebow was

severity. I dare say that, onan average, there was a man flogged as often as once a monthduring the first two years the 'Blonde' was in commission. Aflogging on board a man-of-war with a 'cat,' the nine tailsof which were knotted, and the lashes of which were slowlyde

felt thedisgrace, and was branded for life. His self-esteem waspermanently maimed, and he rarely held up his head or did hisbest again. Besides which, - and this is true of allpunishment - any sense of injustice destroys r

gged. I think theship was the 'Peak.' The event created some sensation, andwas brought before Parliament. Two frigates were sent out tofurnish a quorum of pos

laughing at, and disobeying the orders of, our first-li

Thomas did lose his temper, and threatened to send for theboatswain to tie me up and give me a dozen, - not on theback, but where the back leaves off. Undismayed by thethreat, and mindful of the episode of the 'Peak' (?) I lookedthe ol

nt and of Messrs. Jardine andMatheson. Thence I was invalided home, and took my passageto Bombay in one of the big East India tea-ships. As

guished family. He, too,had been through the China campaign, and had also brokendown. We touched

and I madeexcursions inland. Altogether I had

e, Cotton tookme to Poonah and Ahmadnagar; in both of which places I stayedwith his friends, and messed with

ed the same rooms in thefort with me, we three returned to England; and (I supposefew living people

, ofNavarino fame (whose daughter Sir Thomas afterwards married),giving me 'a character.' Sir Edward sent for me, and wasmost kind. He told me I was to go to the Pacific

Oregon question.' The dispute was concerningthe right of ownership of the mouth of the Columbia river,and of Vancouver's Island. The Pr

l Thomas to put me into any ship'that was likely to see service'; and quoted a word

ar? My fancy pictured allsorts of opportunities, turned to the best account, - myseniors di

ch I was to have sailed to the westwas suddenly countermanded to the east. She was to le

China, whereall was now peaceful and stale to me, the excitement of thewar at an end, every port remi

over, by myfather's will, that I should not be dependent upon aprofession. Knowledge of such a fact has been the ruin ofmany a better man than I. I have no virtuous superstitionsin favour of poverty - quite the reverse - bu

ight take. I also apprehended the oppositionof my guardians. On the whole, I o

and worked the pedals ofdespair

or PONCHOS (I knew she had never heard theword, and that it would tell accordingly), to save her frombeing FROZEN TO DEATH? How would SHE like to be mast-headedwhen a ship was rolling gunwale und

&c

ly miserable, I had my hair cut; and,rendered perfectly reckless by my appearan

nsible degree thepleasure which this o

ght of my adornmentkept my messmates in

ers little; it effectually determined mycareer. Before my new ship sailed for C