-room on
the starboard side of the saloon and came towards Mr Meldrum. "Florry
and I heard a heavy crash which woke us up, and then a cry of alarm, and
a rush of feet along the deck which frightened us, for we could not tell
what had happened. I dressed as fast as I could, but I wouldn't have
come out if I had not heard your voice. As for poor Florry, she says
she won't get up, and is now hiding her head under the clothes, as she
thinks there's a mutiny going on or something dreadful!" and the girl
laughed merrily as she spoke, disclosing the while a set of pearly teeth
that were beautifully regular, and coral lips that would have put a
rosebud to the blush; but, when she came up beside her father, who
looked very young to be her parent, for he barely seemed forty years of
age, she placed her hand on his arm in a caressing way, looking up into
his face with a more serious expression, as if she had merely assumed
the laugh to disguise a fear that she really felt.

"Oh, there's nothing very dreadful happening, Kate," replied Mr
Meldrum; "only a stowaway in the hold whom the steward took for a ghost,
to the serious detriment of the breakfast things which you heard being
smashed; so, pray go back to your cabin, my dear, and soothe `poor
Florry's' alarms. We are just getting our unexpected guest up from his
temporary quarters under the saloon, and I'll call you when the coast is
clear." This he said that she might not be shocked at the sight of the
wounded man; and he felt far more comfortable when she had retired into
her state-room and shut the door of communication that opened from it
into the cuddy.

His comfort, however, was not of very long duration.

"I'd like to know what all this terrible hullabaloo is about?" exclaimed
a gaunt and elderly female with sharp features and a saffron-hued
complexion, coming out from the cabin on the opposite side of the deck,
where she had previously appeared for an instant when in deshabille, as
her night-capped head had evidenced. "It is positively scandalous,
disturbing first-class passengers like this in the middle of the night
and frightening them out of their wits!"

"My dear madam," said Mr Meldrum blandly; "why, it is just on the
stroke of eight o'clock, and we'll be soon having breakfast."

"Don't `my dear madam' me, sir," returned the lady indignantly; "my name
is Mrs Major Negus, and I insist on being treated with proper respect.
Where is the captain of the vessel,