very angry. Besides, it was blowin' fresh outside the harbour, so
that, to have let the steamer alongside to put me into it was no
easy job. Just as we were passing the pier-head, where several
boats were rowing into harbour, the captain came up to me, -

"'You've run away, you blackguard,' he said, giving me a box on the
ear.

"'No I haven't,' said I, angrily; for the box was by no means a
light one.

"Hark'ee, boy, can you swim?'

"'Yes,' said I.

"'Then do it,' and, seizing me by my trousers and the nape of my
neck, he tossed me over the side into the sea. The fellows in the
boats at the end of the pier, backed their oars on seeing this; but
observing that I could swim, they allowed me to make the best of my
way to the pier-head. So, you see, Ralph, that I really did swim
my first homeward voyage."

Jack laughed and patted Peterkin on the shoulder. "But tell us
about the candle-nut tree," said I; "you were talking about it."

"Very true," said Jack, "but I fear I can remember little about it.
I believe the nut is about the size of a walnut; and I think that
the leaves are white, but I am not sure."

"Eh! ha! hum!" exclaimed Peterkin, "I saw a tree answering to that