t the vessel, dolphins disported themselves, and "Portuguese
men-of-war" floated over the sea with their gelatinous sails unfurled,
and everything seemed lazy and enjoyable to the passengers--although the
captain and crew did not evidently relish the state of inaction which
the calm brought about, for they were looking out in all quarters for
the wished-for wind.

Not a ship was in sight--nothing happening to break the peaceful repose
of the deep for hours.

The captain was "having a stretch" below; the men snoozing away on the
deck forwards in all sorts of odd corners; the officer of the watch
blinking as he squinted aloft to see if the dog-vane stirred with any
passing breath of air; even the steersman was nodding over the helm, as
the wheel rotated round to port or starboard as it listed, according as
the ship rose or fell on the long heavy rolling swell that undulated
over the bosom of the deep; and most of the passengers were in the same
somnolent state--when all at once an event occurred that soon broke the
monotony of the afternoon, waking up the sleepy ones to fresh vitality,
for an object of interest had at last arisen in the uneventful day
sufficient for the moment to enchain their attention.

The listless lotus eaters had to thank Master Negus for the excitement,
in the first instance.

That young gentleman was possessed of a keen desire for knowledge, which
his more prosaic seniors were in the habit of misconstruing, deeming it
to arise, as they said, from an insatiable and impertinent curiosity
combined with an inherent love of mischief. Be that as it may, this
desire for knowledge on Master Maurice's part frequently led him into
places where, to put it delicately, his presence was undesirable in many
ways; his love for investigation taking him especially to certain
dangerous localities whither he was peremptorily forbidden to go both by
his mother and the captain.

Among such tabooed spots in the ship was the forecastle; and here,
consequently, as a matter of course, Master Maurice most delighted to
steal away when neither the maternal eye of Mrs Major Negus was upon
him nor any of the other people aft were watching him. He did not mind
the sailors, for they made a point of encouraging him forward and took
much pleasure in developing his propensities for mischief.

This afternoon, he was enjoying himself after the desire of his heart-
climbing about the rigging in a way that would have made his mot