"I fancied," returned the wearer of the felon's garb, "that an order
from the Home-Secretary would smooth all difficulties."

"Certainly," admitted the Governor, "but such documents are only
supplied to European Royal Personages, or other foreigners of extreme
distinction."

"I have the requisite document," replied the curiously-garbed
stranger, and he was bowed into a well-appointed cell, and furnished
with the tangled rope for which he had petitioned.

And about the same time a sea-faring man applied to be rated on one of
Her Majesty's Ships of War.

"Impossible!" was the immediate reply of the Captain, who was rather
short-tempered.

"Nothing is impossible to the Admiralty," said the sea-faring man;
"and, if you will glance at this paper, you will see that I have
special permission from Whitehall to be mast-headed, or to undertake
some other naval manoeuvre of a more modern date."

Suppressing an exclamation of a somewhat profane character, the
Captain gave the required permission, and a few minutes later the
sea-faring man was mounting (with some difficulty), the quivering
rungs of a rope-ladder.

A few hours after the happening of these events, a weary soldier,
a half-starved convict, and a sailor covered with bruises, met by