B

EFORE going on board ship, Mrs. Brisbane engaged a Mrs. Stark, the wife of a sergeant, who was on her way home, to act as Cyril's nurse during the voyage. They bought some clothes also, for they were all quite ragged when they got to Madras; and Harry was sent to a barber, who cut his curls quite short, for his hair was hanging all down on his shoulders, it had been so long neglected.

The little boy very much liked the sea voyage, when they were once afloat, and was never tired of being on deck, and talking to the seamen, and asking them questions. He made great friends with one sailor, who had rigged him up a fishing line, with which one calm afternoon he caught a live fish. It was the first Harry had ever caught, so that he was very much pleased;

and although he was told it was not fit to eat, he was most anxious to persuade his father to have it for breakfast.

'What is your name? What shall I call you?' he said one day to his friend the sailor.

'Well, sir, you can just call me Ben-most on 'em does, though I were chriszunned Benjamin by rights,' answered the man.

'What is your other name?' continued Harry.

'Well, sir, I don't know as I has any other partickler Cross is on the ship's books,' said Ben.

name.

'I should not like to call you Mr. Cross, when you are so very kind,' replied Harry, 'so I will call you Mr. Ben.'

'All square, my lad,' said Ben, 'only you'd best drop the mister. I don't want no handle to my name.'

'Have you ever seen a mermaid?' asked Harry. 'No, sir, I can't say as I has,' was the answer.

'Or a porpoise?' said Harry.

'Plenty on 'em, sir. You come along o' me, and take a look-out astarn. I bet you a pipe o' baccy that we see one now;' and the sailor walked forward. Harry ran at once to the other end of the vessel, and looked over the bulwark at a spot where Ben pointed with his finger, at something dark in the water.

'You see that 'ere; sir? Well, you just keep your

eye on it, and you'll see it roll over in half a minute. That 'ere's a porpis, and t'other next him's another porpis. Why, bless your heart, sir, you'll see 'em play like so many kittens. Pretty, ain't it?' Harry watched the porpoises tumbling and rolling about in the water in the wake of the vessel for some time, for it was very amusing to see them splash, and dive, and go head over heels.

'I must run and call up mamma to see,' he cried.

'No, sir,' said Ben, 'don't ye go for to do that. My lady is asleep, maybe, and she's weak and sick just now. You just let her be, and amuse yourself looking at them porpises.' Ben Cross, though he was a great rough man, had a tender heart. He had seen how pale and worn poor Mrs. Brisbane looked when she came on board, and he knew that rest and quiet were what she wanted.

There was a parrot, belonging to one of the passengers, in the ship; and one day this bird got loose, and climbed into the rigging. Harry spied him first, for he was pluming himself, and his pretty green wings and red tail quite brightened up the place where he had perched.

'Look! what is that?' cried the boy. 'I think it must be Polly.'

'Pretty Poll,-pretty Polly Hopkins,' said the bird.

Then Harry ran to the steward to get some fruit, thinking Polly would come down when she saw it; but no, she only chattered, and climbed up higher into the rigging.

Mrs. Dawson, the lady to whom the parrot belonged, came on deck when she heard the noise. She was very angry because the bird had been let loose, and as she did not know who had done it, or who to scold, she got angry with everybody, and called out very rudely, 'Here, one of you fellows, go up at once, and bring my darling pet down, or I will complain of you to the captain.' No one moved, or offered to go after the parrot; for although most people will help and be kind if well spoken to, there are few who feel inclined to do anything for those who speak rudely to them. So Mrs. Dawson called out again to the seamen, 'I desired one of you fellows to fetch my bird downwhy don't you do it?' Still no man offered to climb up the rigging, and at last, when Harry saw that no one was going to obey the lady, and that she was getting more and more angry and red in the face, he said timidly, 'I will try to get down Polly, if you like, ma'am.'

Mrs. Dawson, hardly looking at the child, answered crossly, 'Well, then, be quick with you; do, or my bird may come to harm.'

Harry was about to try and mount the rigging, which is not at all an easy thing for any one not accustomed to it to do, when Ben put him on one side. 'No, sir,' he said; "tain't safe for a young land-lubber like you. I'll fetch the lady's bird myself.' So Ben climbed up slowly but surely, for the wind had got up, and he feared besides to frighten the parrot; but as he climbed higher up, so did Polly, chattering and screaming, until, between fear of Ben and the breeze, she lost her balance, and fell on to the deck dead. Mrs. Dawson made a great crying when she found her pet had been killed in the fall; but as its wings were clipped to prevent its escaping, it could not fly, and so fell with great force from the height. Harry was much concerned, and ran forward to where the bird lay; but Mrs. Dawson only rewarded his kindness by calling him a 'little wretch,' and telling him to 'get out of the way.'

When he went back, rather sadly, to Ben, the sailor said, 'Well, sir, if the parrot's beak was no better than its missus' tongue, it's as well that neither me nor you fall foul of it.'

Mrs. Dawson cried, and scolded, and made a great fuss about the death of her bird; but no one in the ship seemed to feel very sorry for her. If we would have people kind to us, we must always be kind to them.