“Ah! Chester,” said the admiral, “glad to see you on your pins once more; you have had a very narrow squeak of it, I hear.”
“Indeed I have, sir,” I replied. “So narrow was it that they had my coffin all ready built for me. I have managed to weather upon Yellow Jack this time, however, thank God; and now, if I could only get to sea again, I believe I should soon pull round and completely recover my strength.”
“Ah! say you so? It is quite likely.” The old gentleman was silent for a few minutes, and then, turning abruptly to me, he said,—
“Have you heard that the ‘Juanita’—that pirate brigantine which the ‘Astarte’ took among the Roccas—has been brought to Port Royal, and that we are putting a new foremast in her and converting her into a topsail schooner?”
“No, sir, I have not,” I replied. “Indeed I have heard nothing in connection with naval matters, for I have not yet been as far as Kingston.”
“Umph! Well, we are doing so,” he said. “How do you think the change will affect her?”
“I believe it will be a great improvement. All that heavy gear forward must, I am sure, have been detrimental to her sailing powers, especially in a sea-way.”
“To be sure it was. Couldn’t have been otherwise. Then you approve of the change?”
“Yes, sir, certainly,” I replied, wondering why on earth so great a personage should attach any importance to the opinion of a midshipman.
“Ah! I am glad of that,” returned the admiral; “because, since you have expressed a wish to go to sea again, the idea has come into my head to give her to you—that is to say, until the ‘Astarte’ comes in again.”