“Quite right, Hawkins.  Did you think of ammunition, George?”

“Yes, Major; I was not likely to forget that.  I got twenty-five muskets and cutlasses.  Luckily they kept them at Pascal Aikey’s, for the use of steam yachts going out to the east; and they had ammunition too, so I got fifty rounds for each musket.  It is not likely that we shall want to use that much, but it is best to be on the right side.”

“I think, sir,” Hawkins said, “as it is going to be a long voyage, and as we have doubled our crew, that I had better get another mate.  Purvis is a very good man, but he is no navigator; and we shall have to keep watches regularly.  I met an old shipmate of mine just now who would be just the man.  He commanded the Amphitrite for ten years, and I know that he is a good navigator.  He has been up in the Scotch waters since the spring, and was paid off last week.  I told him that it might be that I could give him a berth as second mate, and he jumped at it.”

“By all means, Hawkins; of course you will want an officer for each watch.  You can find him without loss of time, I hope.”

“Yes, sir.  I have told him to hang about outside the gate here, and I would give him an answer.”

“Very well.  When you have seen him you will find me at Aikey’s.  I have to go there to get a lot of charts.  I have only those for British waters.

“George, do you see to getting these traps down to the boat.  I shall be there in a quarter of an hour.  Is there anything else that you can think of, or that you want yourself?”

“Nothing, sir.”

“When you go on board, you may as well get your traps in one of the spare cabins aft.

“You had better move, too, captain.  You and one of the mates can have the stern cabin.  For the present the other mate can have yours, and the steward can sleep in the saloon.  That will make more room for the extra hands forward.”

“It will be a tight stow, sir,” the captain said.  “I have ordered ten more hammocks and hooks, but I doubt whether there will be room to sling them all.”

“I am sure there won’t, Hawkins.  You had better put the hooks in the saloon beams, and swing five or six of the hammocks there.  We can take the hooks out and stop up the holes when we don’t need them any longer.  We may be having hot weather before we have done, and I don’t want the men crowded too closely forward.”

Twenty minutes later Frank came down to the boat with the skipper, carrying a large roll of charts, and a man with a handcart containing a bundle of jerseys and caps, and fifty white duck trousers.  A large shore boat was alongside when they reached the Osprey.

“Is this the last lot?” the captain asked the man in charge of the pile of casks and boxes with which it was filled.

“Yes, sir, this is the last batch.”

“Get them on deck, Hawkins,” Frank said, “and we can get them down and stowed when we are under sail.  Get the anchor short at once, the sail covers off and the mainsail up.