instead of waiting till the morning. The wind is fair, and I hate
throwing away a fair wind. There is no saying where it may blow to-
morrow, but I shouldn't be at all surprised if it isn't round to the
south, and that will be foul for us till we get pretty nigh up into the
mouth of the river. However, I gave them till to-night for getting all
their things on board, and must therefore wait."

To the boys the _Susan_ appeared quite a large craft, for there
was not water up at Hedingham for vessels of her size; and though they
had seen ships at Harwich, they had never before put foot on anything
larger than Master Lirriper's barge. The _Susan_ was about forty
feet long by twelve feet beam, and drew, as her skipper informed them,
near five feet of water. She was entirely decked. The cabin in the bows
occupied some fourteen feet in length. The rest was devoted to cargo.
They descended into the cabin, which seemed to them very dark, there
being no light save what came down through the small hatchway. Still it
looked snug and comfortable. There was a fireplace on one side of the
ladder by which they had descended, and on this side there were two
bunks, one above the other. On the other side there were lockers
running along the entire length of the cabin. Two could sleep on these
and two on the bunks above them.

"Now, young masters, you will take those two bunks on the top there.
John Lirriper and I will sleep on the lockers underneath you. The man
and the boy have the two on the other side. I put you on the top
because there is a side board, and you can't fall out if she rolls, and
besides the bunks are rather wider than the lockers below. If the wind
is fair you won't have much of our company, because we shall hold on
till we moor alongside the wharves of London; but if it's foul, or
there is not enough of it to take us against tide, we have to anchor on