At length, all were safely landed on the quarter-deck, without the exposure of an ancle, which they all seemed to dread.  Whether their ancles were not quite so small as Mr M’Flinn wished me to suppose their appetites were, I cannot say.

“La! aunt,” said Deborah, “when I looked up in the air, and saw you and Deliverance dangling over our heads, I thought if the rope was to break, what a ‘squash’ you would have come on us:  I am sure you would have paunched us.”

Determined to have the Philadelphia version of this elegant phrase, I inquired what it meant, and was informed, that in their country when any one had his bowels squeezed out, they called it “paunching.”

“Well,” thought I, “after this, you might swallow the Po without spoiling your breakfasts.”  The band struck up “Yankee Doodle,” the ladies were in ecstacy, and began to caper round the quarter-deck.

“La!  Jemima,” said Deborah, “what have you done to the western side of your gown? it is all over white.”

This was soon brushed off, but the expression was never forgotten in the ship, and always ludicrously applied.

Having shown them the ship and all its wonders, I was glad to conduct them back to the shore.  When I met the admiral, I told him I had done the honours, and hoped the next time he had any female relatives, he would keep his engagements, and attend to them himself.

“Why, now, who do you think they are?” said the admiral.

“Think!” said I, “why, who should they be but your Yankee cousins?”

“Why, was you such a d——­d flat as to believe what I said, eh?  Why, their father keeps a shop of all sorts at Philadelphia, and they were going to New York, on a visit to some of their relatives, when the ship they were in was taken and brought in here.”

“Then,” said I, “these are not the bon-ton of Philadelphia?”

“Just as much as Nancy Dennis is the bon-ton of Halifax,” said the admiral; “though the uncle, as I told you, is a sensible fellow in his way.”

“Very well,” said I; “you have caught me for once; but remember, I pay you for it.”

And I was not long in his debt.  Had he not given me this explanation, I should have received a very false impression of the ladies of Philadelphia, and have done them an injustice for which I should never have forgiven myself.

The time of our sailing drew near.  This was always a melancholy time in Halifax; but my last act on shore was one which created some mirth, and enlivened the gloom of my departure.  My friend Ned and myself had not yet had an opportunity of paying off Sir Hurricane Humbug for telling tales to Maria, and for his false introduction to myself.  One morning we both came out of our rooms at the same moment, and were proceeding to the breakfast parlour, when we spied the admiral performing some experiment.  Unfortunately for him, he was seated in such a manner, just clear of a pent-house, as to be visible from our position; and at the same time, the collar of his coat would exactly intersect the segment of a circle described by any fluid, projected by us over this low roof, which would thus act as a conductor into the very pole of his neck.