afforded no relief to the eye. The town itself looked mean and
poverty-stricken, for it was of comparatively modern growth, and
contained but a few buildings of importance. Long low warehouses fringed
the shore, for here came for shipping vast quantities of hides; as San
Diego, which is situated within a few miles of the frontier between the
United States and Mexico, is the sole sheltered port available for
shipping between San Francisco and the mouth of the Gulf of California.
Two or three other ships which were, like the _Northampton_, engaged in
shipping hides, lay near her. A sickening odor rose from the half-cured
skins as they were swung up from boats alongside and lowered into the
hold, and in spite of the sharp orders of the mates, the crew worked
slowly and listlessly.

"This is awful, Tom," a lad of about sixteen, in the uniform of a
midshipman, said to another of about the same age as, after the last
boat had left the ship's sides, they leaned against the bulwarks; "what
with the heat, and what with the stench, and what with the captain and
the first mate, life is not worth living. However, only another two or
three days and we shall be full up, and once off we shall get rid of a
good deal of the heat and most of the smell."

"Yes, we shall be better off in those respects, Dick, but unfortunately
we shan't leave the captain and mate behind."

"No, I don't know which I like worst of them. It is a contrast to our
last sip, Tom. What a good time we had of it on board the _Zebra_! The
captain was a brick, and the mates were all good fellows. In fact, we
have always been fortunate since the day we first came on board together
up to now. I can't think how the owners ever appointed Collet to the
command; he is not one of their own officers. But when Halford was taken