on in the path that they had chosen.

The captain remarked that, after what they had said, although he
should have been glad to have them with him, he thought that they had
decided rightly.

The next morning, when the boys woke, they were surprised at the
absence of any motion of the vessel, and upon going on deck they found
that they were running up the Tagus, and that Lisbon was in sight.




CHAPTER VI.

PORTUGAL.


The boys were delighted with the appearance of the Tagus, covered as
it now was with a fleet of transports and merchantmen. As they were
looking at it, the officer commanding the marines on board, who had
talked a good deal to them upon the preceding day, came up to them. "I
thought that you would be in a fix about clothes, my lads," he said.
"You could not very well join in these midshipman's uniforms, so I set
the tailor yesterday to cut down a couple of spare suits of my corps.
The buttons will not be right, but you can easily alter that when you
join. You had better go below at once and see if the things fit pretty
well. I have told the tailor to take them to the cock-pit and if they
do not fit they can alter them at once."