it peered
down from the scuttle with keen enjoyment of the scene.

"Is the boy asleep?" he inquired aggravatingly, as Henry's arms and legs
shot out of the berth in mad attempts to reach his tormentors.

"Sleeping like a little hangel, sir!" said Sam respectfully. "Would you
like to come down and see he's all right, sir?"

"Bless him!" said the grinning mate.

He went off, and Henry, making the best of a bad job, closed his eyes
and refused to be drawn into replying to the jests of the men. Ever
since he had been on the schooner he had been free from punishment of
all kinds by the strict order of the skipper--a situation of which he
had taken the fullest advantage. Now his power was shaken, and he lay
grinding his teeth as he thought of the indignity to which he had been
subjected.

CHAPTER XI.

He resolved that he would keep his discovery to himself. It was an
expensive luxury, but he determined to indulge in it, and months or
years later perhaps he would allow the skipper to learn what he had lost
by his overbearing brutality. Somewhat soothed by this idea, he fell
asleep.

His determination, which was strong when he arose, weakened somewhat as
the morning wore on. The skipper, who had thought no more of the matter
after giving his hasty instructions to the cook, was in a soft and
amiable mood, and, as Henry said to himself fifty times in the course of
the morning, five pounds was five pounds. By the time ten o'clock came
he could hold out no longer, and with a full sense of the favor he was
about to confer, he approached the unconscious skipper.

Before he could speak he was startled by a commotion on the quay, and
looking up, saw the cook, who had gone ashore for vegetables, coming
full tilt towards the ship. He appeared to be laboring under strong
excitement, and bumped passers-by and dropped cabbages with equal
unconcern.

"What on earth's the matter with the cook," said the skipper, as the
men suspended work to gaze on the approaching figure. "What's wrong?" he
demanded sharply, as the cook, giving a tremendous leap on board, rushed
up and spluttered in his ear.

"What?" he repeated.

The cook, with his hand on his distressed chest, gasped for breath.

"Captain Gething!" panted the cook at last, recovering his breath with
an effort. "Round the--corner."

Almost as excited as the cook, the skipper sprang ashore and hurried
along the quay with him, violently shaking off certain respectable