ship before this."

"I am going on board myself at once," the captain proceeded, "but
I must ask you to keep your boat waiting for half an hour more.
You will be all the longer with your wife, you know. I thought of
that, Crayford."

"I am much obliged to you, Captain Helding. I suppose there is
some other reason for inverting the customary order of things,
and keeping the lieutenant on shore after the captain is on
board?"

"Quite true! there _is_ another reason. I want you to wait for a
volunteer who has just joined us."

"A volunteer!"

"Yes. He has his outfit to get in a hurry, and he may be half an
hour late."

"It's rather a sudden appointment, isn't it?"

"No doubt. Very sudden."

"And--pardon me--it's rather a long time (as we are situated) to
keep the ships waiting for one man?"

"Quite true, again. But a man who is worth having is worth
waiting for. This man is worth having; this man is worth his
weight in gold to such an expedition as ours. Seasoned to all