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CHAPTER X
CAPTAIN HIGGINSON AND THE SPANISH MAIN

The Churchwarden, having put back into his pocket the bottle of Odour of Sanctity, folded his hands across his fat stomach and began again:

"As I was saying – "

"Never mind that," said Toby. "Tell us what we had better do."

"Well, as I was saying," went on the Churchwarden, paying no attention to Toby, "the best idea that occurs to me, after thinking it over considerable, is that – But I ain't saying there's none better, and I don't lay claim to being any wiser than – Anyway, it seems to me we ought to – "

"Just listen to this!" broke in Aunt Amanda. She had been studying the map all this time, and she was holding it in her hands. She was much excited. "I've just made out all this handwriting at the bottom of the map, and I'll read it to you. Do you want to hear it?" Her voice shook and her hands trembled. Everybody except the Churchwarden begged her to go on. "Oh! do you think it could be true? If it only could! Oh, if it could only be true!"

"Maybe if you'd read it, Aunt Amanda – " said Toby.

"Yes, yes, I will," said she, all of a twitter. "I'll read it. Don't hurry me. This is what it says. If it could only be true! 'Correction Island: By dead Reckoning, latitude 12° 32' 14" N., longitude 61° 45' 13" W.,' whatever that means. But I'll read it to you just as it's written. It's a queer kind of language – Anyway, this is what it says:

"'Lately discovered by me, Reuben Higginson, Master Mariner, Brig Cotton Mather: New Bedford.

"'Notify Elizabeth Higginson, Spinster: or Else the acknowledged Elder of the Society of Friends: New Bedford.

"'Now off course in heavy gale on return Voyage to fetch my Sister aforesaid to Correction Island with as Many others as are Minded to come.

"'Leaking badly below line: pumps Given over: Water mounting in hold: decks Awash: Both masts gone By the board: whale-oil, no use: Down with all hands in another Hour.

"'This Map shall be cast Overboard in a stout Bottel as we go down, with a Paper of directions how to Gain correction in the Island.'"

"Where's the paper of directions?" said Toby.

"It ain't here," said Aunt Amanda. "I suppose Captain Higginson lost it, or else he didn't have time to put it in the bottle. Anyway, this is what the writing on the map says:

"'Let him that Finds the Bottel remember these Mariners: Also, let him take heed to Search out the Island diligently.

"'For this Island' – Listen to what it says now," said Aunt Amanda, trembling with excitement. "Oh, do you suppose it could really be true? And yet this Reuben Higginson was a good Quaker captain, I'm sure, and I don't believe he would say what wasn't true, and especially when he was on his way home to get his own sister – "

"Why don't you read it, instead of talking about it?" said Toby.

"I would, if you'd let me," said Aunt Amanda. "Here's what it says:

"'For this Island is Refuge to such as be afflicted: And in this Island shall be Corrected' – oh! listen to this! I wouldn't believe it from anybody but Reuben Higginson – 'shall be Corrected whatever Errors, Disappointments, Miscarriages, Faylures, Preventions, and the like, this mortal Life may have afflicted Any withal: Wherefore I have called it Correction Island.

"'There be Perils enough in coming at Compleat Correction: But let Courage halt not By the way, so shall he Arrive presently.

"'If any be Crooked' – this is the part! it's too wonderful! but Captain Higginson wouldn't have said it, when he was so near going down with his ship, and especially on his way home to get his own sister – "

"Me dear lydy," said Mr. Punch, "hif you would be so wery kind as to – "

"Yes, yes; give me time. I declare you make me so nervous – Now just listen to this, every one of you, and don't speak:

"'If any be Crooked, he shall there be made Straight.'"

She paused, and looked hard at Toby. Mr. Punch started at the same time, and he and Toby looked hard at each other.

"'If any be Blind, he shall see: If any Dumb, he shall speak.'"

At the word "dumb," Mr. Hanlon, whose elbow was resting on the table, jumped so violently that he knocked the Album onto the floor. Aunt Amanda nodded her head to him, and all the others stared at him.

"'If any be Old, he shall be Young again: If any Fat, he shall be as Lean as he will.'"

At the word "fat", the Churchwarden gave a questioning grunt, and settled down deeper in his chair.

"'If any be Poor, whether in Purse or in Mind, he shall seek Alms no longer.'"

The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, who had been resting his wooden leg on the chair opposite, dropped it to the floor and sat up very straight. Toby, who was standing beside him, clapped him heartily on the shoulder.

"'If any be Mean, or Cunning, or Despiteful, he shall be given a new heart.'"

Aunt Amanda looked directly at the Sly Old Codger, who was sitting smiling, with his tall silk hat on his knees; and everyone else in the room, except Mr. Hanlon, looked very intently at him. He noticed it, and glanced around inquiringly, smiling more benevolently than ever.

"How beautiful that would be," he said. "How beautiful! If some of my dear, dear friends could only have a new heart, – how beautiful!"

"Don't interrupt," said Aunt Amanda. "Freddie, listen to this:

"'If any be Little in stature, against his desire, he shall be Great.'"

Freddie opened his eyes very wide. Would it be possible to be big at once, without waiting all that long dreary time? How glorious that would be!

"But this," said Aunt Amanda, "this is the last and the best. I don't know – whether I can – read it right – " her voice broke, and she blew her nose and cleared her throat – "but I will try. Oh! do you suppose it could be true? Would a good Quaker captain, with a sister in New Bedford, say it if it wasn't true? With the sea raging and both masts gone, and the ship filling up with water, and – "

"Aunt Amanda," said Toby, "if you don't read the rest of it this minute – "

"Ah, yes, Toby, I will," said Aunt Amanda. "It must be true, or a good man like that wouldn't have said it. This is the last part, and the best:

"'If any be Prevented unjustly of Beauty or of Children or of Love or of Other like desires, there shall be found for him of these a great Store: So that there shall be an End of repining, and none in that Place shall say, Thus and thus might I have been also, had I been but justly entreated.

"'And so I commit my Body to the sea, and my soul to – '"

"Go on! go on!" cried the company – excepting, of course, Mr. Hanlon.

Aunt Amanda blew her nose again, and laid down the map on the table. "That's all," she said. "I suppose he didn't have time to finish it."

CHAPTER XI
A MIXED COMPANY IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURE

After Aunt Amanda had stopped reading, it was a moment or two before anyone spoke. "If all those things," said Mr. Toby thoughtfully, "could be done in that Island, I'd be in favor of going there."

There was a general murmur of assent, and Mr. Hanlon nodded his head.

"Well," went on Mr. Toby, "we'd better make up our minds what we want to do about it. The Churchwarden ain't had his say yet, what with all these interruptions, and I move we give him a chance to have his say, right now. Speak up, Warden; what do you think we ought to do?"

"As I was saying," said the Churchwarden, looking around solemnly, "while I don't hold to my own opinion if anybody else can think up something better, still it seems to me – But maybe you'd ruther hear from the others first."

"No, no!" cried the whole company, – except Mr. Hanlon, who shook his head vigorously.

"Well, then, being as you've asked me so particular, and having thought about it considerable, – as I was saying, it appears to me that the best thing to do would be to – This is only the way it looks to me, you understand, and I ain't speaking for nobody but myself, and I don't pretend that my opinion is worth – "

"By crackey!" cried Mr. Toby, very rudely. "Ain't you the most maddening old feller that ever was in the world? Come on, now, tell us what to do, and be quick about it!"

"Call up the Able Seaman!"

This was so unexpected that nobody spoke for a moment.

"Hurrah!" cried Toby. "Now you've said it. We'll call up Mr. Lemuel Mizzen – is that his name? That's the thing to do! Do you all agree to that?" Everybody approved, and Mr. Toby turned to Freddie. "He's your man, Freddie, and if you've done it once, I reckon it won't be any harm for you to do it again. Wait a minute." And he ran into the shop, and immediately returned with the Chinaman's head and a churchwarden pipe.

"Now, then, Freddie," he said. "Will you do it again?"

"No, sir," said Freddie. "I'd rather not."

"You shouldn't make him do it," said Aunt Amanda.

"Nonsense, Aunt Amanda!" cried Toby. "He's as bad now as he'll ever be, and it ain't a-going to do him no harm. I'll fill the pipe."

"Hit's quite a lark," said Mr. Punch, laughing heartily. "Fancy the little beggar's smoking a pipe!"

"My dear little friend," began the Sly Old Fox, beaming upon Freddie. "You must always remember that your elders know best – "

"Here, Freddie," said Mr. Toby, having filled the pipe, "sit down here." And he pushed Freddie gently down upon his accustomed hassock at Aunt Amanda's feet.

Freddie shook his head, but Mr. Toby put the pipe into his mouth and lit a match. All the others sat in silence, watching Freddie intently.

"Now, then!" said Toby. "Pull away!" And he touched the lighted match to the pipeful of black tobacco.

Freddie gave a pull, and blew out a cloud of smoke. He did not choke this time. He gave another pull, and blew out another cloud. The white smoke lay above the heads of the company in a thick mass; it grew thicker, so that he could not see through it; it began to move, as if in a high wind. He drew on the pipe once more, and blew out another cloud of smoke. He knew what was coming, and in fact the same thing happened that had happened to him before. The white cloud churned about, with its barber-poles and jets of fire, coming down closer and closer upon him, and in a jiffy he was sitting in midair on his hassock, and then he felt himself falling, falling; and as he struck the bottom with a jar, he heard, very distinctly, a knock on the door; and he was sitting again on his hassock at Aunt Amanda's feet in the quiet room, with no sign of a cloud anywhere to be seen.

"Come in!" he heard Mr. Toby cry.

The door opened, and in walked Mr. Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., as cool as a cucumber.

He took off his flat blue cap with the black ribbon, and made a bow to the company.

"Piped me aft again, and good evening to you all!" said he, in his hoarse voice. "Lemuel Mizzen, A.B.! That's me! What'll it be? All ready for orders, skipper! It was just half past by the starboard watch, and the skippers their apples were quietly peeling, when I locked up the last of the lemons and Scotch, and lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling, to snatch forty winks, as I foolishly reckoned; but just as I thinks, 'Thirty-first, thirty-second,' there's a ring at the bell of the big front-door, and the mates come and yell that I'm wanted ashore; so I tucks in my cap the eight points of my nap, and just before stopping to turn down the lights, I runs to the dresser and puts it to rights, and then before giving a last look behind, I goes to the bed and takes off the spread, and lays out to air the three sheets in the wind! And here I be," concluded the Able Seaman, "all ready for orders." And he looked very hard at Freddie.

"Well!" said Aunt Amanda, gasping. "I never in my life heard such a – "

"I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Mizzen," said Toby. "It's about Correction Island, on the Spanish Main."

"Ay, ay, sir!" said Mr. Mizzen. "Would you like to go there?"

"Ah!" said everyone at once, except Mr. Hanlon, who nodded his head.

"No trouble at all," said Mr. Mizzen. "Just step into The Sieve, and we'll be off. A sweet little bark is The Sieve, provided there's plenty of dippers; but we always go well provided. Is the whole party going?"

"One moment, if you please," said the Sly Old Codger. "There is one little point on which I – that is to say – Will there be any expense?"

"Not a penny," said Mr. Mizzen. "Everything's found. Orders from the skipper. What he says goes."

"Ah!" said the Sly Old Fox. "The Spanish Main! With all the little parrots and monkeys flitting about in the branches of the upas trees! – I think I will join."

"I reckon we're all going," said Mr. Toby. "Is everybody agreed? All right. It's settled. And my vote is, to go right now, while we've got hold of our Able Seaman here."

"Shouldn't I tell mother first?" asked Freddie.

"I'll write her a note in the morning," said Toby. "I'll fix it; you leave it to me."

"I suppose I really ought to finish this sewing," said Aunt Amanda.

"No time," said Toby, who seemed to be managing everything. "Where's the ship, Mr. Mizzen?"

"Made fast to the wharf at the foot of this street," said Mr. Mizzen.

"Then let's go," said Toby.

He ran out of the room, and returned with his white derby hat on his head, and his hand-painted necktie neatly in its place. He helped Aunt Amanda to get up, and brought her her little black bonnet, which she put on and tied under her chin, and her cashmere shawl, which she put around her shoulders.

"All right!" cried Toby. "We're off! Come along!"

"We're off to the Spanish Main," said Mr. Mizzen, in his curious sing-song, "to the wet Antipodee; but dry or wet we need not fret, for we are bold as bold can be; and on the way at Botany Bay we'll probably stay a week or two, to gather ferns as the Botanists do, and then we'll stop at the door of Spain, to ask the way to the Spanish Main, and so without any more delay, on the Spanish Main we'll all alight, where the star-fish shines in the sea all night, and the dog-star barks in the sky all day – Here, skipper, put this in your pocket, and hold fast to it." He handed Freddie the map, and Freddie put it away safely in his pocket.

"Have you got the Odour of Sanctity?" said Mr. Toby to the Churchwarden.

"Right here," said the fat man, tapping his back pocket.

"I'll carry the Chinaman's tobacco," said Toby. "We may need it." And he tucked the Chinaman's head under his arm.

In a few moments the whole party were standing on the pavement outside, and Toby locked the shop-door behind them. They crossed the street, and as they did so they heard a faint voice halloing from the top of the church tower, and they could make out that it said, "Punch! Punch!" But Mr. Punch only sniffed and shrugged his shoulders, and made no answer.

It was very dark. The gas-lamps at the corners only made the darkness gloomier. The only sound they heard, after Mr. Punch's father's voice had died away behind them, was the stump-stump of the Old Codger's wooden leg on the brick pavement. All the dwelling-houses were closed, and as they came nearer to the wharves all the warehouses were dark and awful. Not a soul was to be seen, except that once they saw the back of a policeman as he disappeared around a dark corner in advance. At the sight of this policeman's back, and in the shadow of a great gloomy building alongside an alley, Freddie slipped his hand into the Able Seaman's big paw. He wondered if he were doing quite right in leaving home without saying a word to his mother, but Mr. Toby had promised to do whatever was necessary, and anyway, he was going aboard a ship! If he should stop to speak to his mother about going away on a voyage in a ship, he felt somehow that he might never go. He could already smell the delicious odour of tarred ropes.

Their progress was very slow, on account of Aunt Amanda's lameness. First came Mr. Mizzen, leading the way with Freddie by his side. Next came Aunt Amanda, limping with her cane, and supported on one side by Mr. Toby and on the other by Mr. Punch. Behind them walked the Churchwarden and the Sly Old Fox, and last of all Mr. Hanlon and the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg.

They could see not far before them the ghost-like masts and shrouds of ships, looking as if they were growing up from the street among the buildings; and in another moment they found themselves standing in a group on a wide wharf, piled up with bales and boxes, and before them, against the edge of the wharf, where the black water was lapping the piles, stood a tall ship with most of her sails set. Freddie thrilled in every vein of his body. At that moment he did not think of his father or mother; he thought of nothing but the smell of brackish water and tarred ropes, and the deck of a ship on the open sea under a cloud of canvas, and the far-away Spanish Main.

The Able Seaman led the company of adventurers forward between the bales and boxes, until they stood beside the dark hull of the ship. He turned round and faced them and touched his cap respectfully.

"Come aboard," said he.

CHAPTER XII
THE VOYAGE OF THE SIEVE

When Freddie awoke the next morning, he leaned up on his elbow, rubbing his eyes, and was surprised to see the floor of the little room in which he found himself settling slowly down at one side. In a moment the floor rose again on that side, and the other side settled down. Then the whole room tilted sideways and back again. It made him dizzy, and he closed his eyes, wondering what kind of a house he had gotten into. He decided he would get up and find out about it.

He carefully rose, and tried to walk across the floor to the window. As he stepped out, the floor seemed to go down under him, and he quickly grasped the bed; he put out his foot again, and the floor rose up; he was dizzier than before, and he had a queer sinking feeling in his stomach. As the floor tilted down sideways again, he made a dash to the opposite wall, and held on there by the window; but the floor sank again, and he made another dash, back to bed. He was cold and hot, and his head ached, and there was a feeling in his stomach as if – oh dear! He decided he would lie in bed for a few moments until he felt better.

He remained there for two days.

What occurred during those two days he could not remember very well afterwards. He slept a great deal, and it seemed that some one with a green patch over his eye came in now and then; but he paid very little attention. All he wanted was to go to sleep and stay asleep.

On the morning after his third night he sat up wide awake. He was hungry. He jumped up and dressed in a hurry. As the floor tilted and sank and rose with him he thought he had never felt so delicious a sensation. He wondered if there would be bacon and eggs for breakfast.

In a moment he had thrown open the door and he was running up a short flight of steps. He was weak and tottery, but he paid no attention to that. He was at the top of the steps, and he drew in a deep breath of the cool morning air.

He was standing on the deck of a great ship. Over his head clouds and clouds of beautiful white canvas swelled out to the breeze. The sun was sparkling merrily on the water, and there was no land to be seen anywhere. Up forward, the bow of the ship was dipping and rising regularly. There were three tall masts, and on the first two the sails were set square to the masts, and on the third lengthwise; every sail seemed to be up. It was glorious.

He walked forward up the deck. Here and there were men in blue overalls, cleaning the deck, coiling ropes, and polishing metal; and in a little house with windows a man was standing beside an upright wheel. Near the first mast, in a group, were Aunt Amanda, Mr. Toby, the Churchwarden, and the two old Codgers. Freddie hailed them with a shout.

"All right, young feller," cried Mr. Toby, as Freddie came up, "here we are! How is this for a corking spree? Beats all the Tolchester excursions you ever see, that's what I say! Blamed if it don't. I ain't been out of bed for two days."

"No more has any of us," said Aunt Amanda. "Do you feel well, Freddie? I declare I'm quite excited. Isn't the air invigorating?"

"Yes'm," said Freddie. "What did you say in your note, Mr. Toby?"

"What note?" said Toby.

"Why, your note to my mother, explaining about me and – "

"By crackey!" cried Toby. "Blamed if I didn't clean forget all about it! Now ain't that too bad! What on earth are we going to do about it?"

"Well!" said Aunt Amanda. "Now ain't that just like you, Toby Littleback? I declare if your head wasn't fastened on you'd – "

"Wery reprehensible," said Mr. Punch. "Wery."

"My dear friends," said the Sly Old Codger, "let us not be disquieted on such a morning as this. Everything is so beautiful. So beautiful! And without any expense whatever. It is a precious thought. How pleasant it is to hear the breeze blowing so gently among all the little capstans up there!"

He took off his high silk hat and looked up among the sails with a rapt expression on his face, and all the others looked up too, trying to see the capstans fluttering in the breeze.

"Look!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Why, there's Mr. Hanlon!"

Far, far up, near the top of the second mast, was a white figure, standing on a rope under the topmost sail, and holding on with one hand and waving the other down at the passengers. Mr. Toby waved his white derby, and Mr. Hanlon began to come down. Freddie trembled with alarm, but Mr. Hanlon was obviously having the time of his life. He skipped swiftly along his dangerous perch, and sliding down and along the spars of wood that held the sails, and actually leaping from one to another, and tripping lightly down ladders of rope, while the whole top swayed dizzily from side to side, he at length came down on the deck with a bounce, and bowing to everybody shook Freddie by the hand.

"Here comes the Able Seaman!" cried Toby. "And see what he's got on his wrist!"

Mr. Lemuel Mizzen came rolling down the deck, and as he approached he took off his cap with his left hand and made a bow. On his right wrist was a blue and red parrot, who cocked his head sideways at the strangers, and then looked up inquiringly at the Able Seaman.

"Good morning, all!" said Mr. Mizzen. "Glad to see the passengers come to life again! Nothing like the open sea, lady and gentlemen!"

"Are you sure it's perfectly safe?" said Aunt Amanda.

"Perfectly safe, ma'am. A tight little bark is The Sieve, provided the dippers hold out. Most of the men is below now, baling out the water with their dippers, and the ship ain't leaking more than ordinary – yet. Of course you never can tell what may happen, but there's plenty of dippers, unless we should founder in a storm, or split up on the rocks, or – "

"Mercy on us!" cried Aunt Amanda. "I wish we hadn't come. If I only had some sewing with me."

"Would you mend socks, ma'am?"

"Oh, that would be lovely! And I could look after the men's shirts, too, and count the laundry when it comes home, and – I'm sure we are going to have a delightful voyage! I feel better already. I don't believe there's any danger after all. It's all nonsense about the ship's leaking."

"Who's your f-f-f-friends, L-l-lem?" shrieked a voice from Mr. Mizzen's wrist.

Everyone started, and looked in amazement at the parrot, whose head was perked sideways up at Mr. Mizzen's face.

"L-l-lem!" shrieked the parrot, stuttering terribly. "Who's your f-f-f-friends?"

"Never you mind," said Lemuel, "you'll find out soon enough. Breakfast's ready. Anybody want breakfast?"

Before anyone had a chance to reply, the parrot opened his mouth wide and gave a loud laugh, and cried out:

"Th-th-three ch-cheers! Th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-steak, b-b-bacon and eggs! I'll have l-l-l-liver and onions! Ha! ha! ha! Th-th-three ch-cheers for l-l-l-liver and onions!"

"Be quiet, Marmaduke," said the Able Seaman. "I'll lock you up again, if you ain't careful."

"K-k-k-ker-choo!" said Marmaduke, giving a loud sneeze; and rubbed his beak with his foot and fluttered his feathers. "L-l-l-lock me up in the a-a-after hold, till I g-g-g-get all over this d-d-d-dreadful cold! Th-th-three ch-cheers for hay f-f-f-fever! K-k-k-ker-choo!"

"I'll lock you up in the after hold, if you don't quit being so fresh and bold; I'll learn you manners before I'm through, and if ever I hear one little – "

"Ker-choo!" said Marmaduke, finishing Mr. Mizzen's sentence for him very neatly.

Everyone laughed, except the Able Seaman.

"All right," said he, "just wait till I've had my chow, I'll attend to you proper; now off with you – now!" And he tossed Master Marmaduke off his wrist up into the air. The parrot lit on a spar overhead, just under a sail, and peered down at the company without the least appearance of embarrassment.

"If there's b-b-b-bacon and eggs," he cried, "I'll take l-l-l-liver! Th-th-three ch-ch-cheers for l-l-l-liver!"

Freddie burst into a merry laugh, and all his friends joined; all except Mr. Punch, who looked puzzled.

"'Ow could 'e 'ave liver," said he, "hif there was only bycon an' heggs?"

At this everyone laughed louder than before, and Mr. Punch was completely perplexed.

"I'll explain that to you some day," said Toby. "Didn't you never hear a joke?"

"Ho, yes," said Mr. Punch. "Hi 'eard a wery good joke once; a wery good one indeed. Hi'll relate it to you. When I was a lad – "

"There's the breakfast bell," said Mr. Mizzen. "Sorry to interrupt, but we mustn't let it get cold. We'll hold the election afterwards."

No one waited to hear Mr. Punch's joke. The Able Seaman led the way, and all the others followed him down the deck, towards a kind of three-sided box which opened on a stairway below.

In a moment or two they found themselves in the dining-saloon, and in another moment they were seated about a round table, set for breakfast. The passengers insisted on the Able Seaman's sitting down with them, and he consented to do so.

A lad of about eighteen entered, to wait on the table. He had a shock of bright red hair, and a kind of frightened look in his eyes, as if he were afraid he would do everything wrong, and would always be in hot water about it. He stood behind the Able Seaman's chair, and began to make a queer contortion of the face, in an effort to speak.

"Th-th-th-there's – " he began.

"Skipper first," interrupted Mr. Mizzen, nodding towards Freddie.

The Cabin-boy (for that was what he was) went to Freddie's chair, and began to speak again, with the same contortion of the face.

"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon and eggs," he said.

"Yes, sir," said Freddie.

The Cabin-boy stared in bewilderment, and began again.

"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon and eggs," said he.

"Yes, sir," said Freddie, much embarrassed.

"I don't blame you, skipper," said the Able Seaman. "I would too, if I hadn't eaten for two days. Next!"

The Cabin-boy stood behind Aunt Amanda's chair, and began:

"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon and – Ker-choo!" He gave a hearty sneeze, and pulled out his pocket-handkerchief; so he had to begin all over again:

"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-s-s – "

"Chops, thank you," said Aunt Amanda.

The Cabin-boy took his stand behind Toby's chair, and began:

"There's – there's – th-th-th-th – Ker-choo! Th-th-there's ch-ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-s-s – "

"Chops and steak," said Toby.

The Cabin-boy stood behind each of the other chairs in turn, and repeated each time his entire list. Everybody gave a different order, and the boy became so bewildered at last that he wiped his forehead with his pocket-handkerchief, brushed a tear from his eye, and when he had taken the last order dashed out of the door with a kind of sob.

As soon as he was gone, sounds came through the door by which he had left, as if a dreadful row was going on in the next room.

"Frightful temper, that cook," said the Able Seaman, "but the boy certainly does get on his nerves."

In a short time the Cabin-boy came in with four plates at once, and as he reached Freddie's chair the ship gave a deep lurch downward, and the four plates shot out of his arms across the room, showering the floor with chops, steak, bacon and eggs.

The boy gave a wild cry and burst into tears, and fled through the door. From the next room came the sound of a row more violent than before.

"Never mind," said Mr. Mizzen, "he'll be back."

He came back presently, his eyes very red, and stumbling in and out managed to put down before each one a plate. Every plate contained chops, steak, bacon and eggs.

"Now," said Mr. Mizzen, when the breakfast was over, "we'll go up and hold the election."

When they came on deck, they were astonished to see a considerable number of men in blue overalls, who were sitting on the deck in a group. As the passengers approached, they stood up respectfully, and one of them said something privately to Mr. Mizzen.

"They've held the election already," said the Able Seaman, turning to the passengers. "There's three dozen of 'em, and they've elected the captains and mates for the voyage; thirteen captains and twenty-three mates. They went right ahead without waiting for me, so I'm the only Able Seaman left on the ship."

"What!" said Aunt Amanda. "Do you mean to tell me – ?"

"It's all right, madam," said Mr. Mizzen in an undertone. "You see, they're all free and equal, and everything goes by voting. They won't have it any other way. It's lucky they didn't all want to be captains. It's all right, anyway, because there's none of 'em knows anything about navigation, and I'm the only one on board that does know; so it comes to the same thing as if they had elected me captain. But of course they don't think of that. Not a word. I'll send 'em about their business now, as soon as they've put on their uniforms."

"Well!" said Aunt Amanda, gasping. "I never in my life – !"

The thirteen captains and the twenty-three mates disappeared from the deck in a hurry, and in a very few minutes reappeared. Each one of them wore, in place of his blue overalls, a smart blue suit with brass buttons and gold braid, and a jaunty blue cap with gold braid around it; the mates having only nine instead of ten rows of braid around their sleeves.

The Able Seaman led them aside, and after a few words with them returned to his passengers.