"rule and law."

"Rule and law,"--it was the lesson that seemed to face Dan
everywhere,--down in those black depths he had penetrated to-day, where
valve and lever and gauge held roaring fire and hissing steam, with all
their fierce force, to submission and service; in the polished mechanism
whose steady throb he could feel pulsing beneath him like a giant heart;
in the radiant sky where worlds beyond worlds swept on their mysterious
way--obeying.

With half-formed thoughts like these stirring vaguely in his mind, Dan was
dropping off into pleasant sleep, when he was roused by the sound of
voices and the glimmering of a ship's lantern.

"I think you will find your boy here, sir."

It was Mr. John Wirt, who, with the aid of a friendly deck hand, was
guiding a pale, tottering, very sick Brother Bart to Dan's side.

"Who wants me?" asked the half-wakened Dan, springing to his feet.

"Dan Dolan! Ye young rapscallion!" burst out Brother Bart, almost sobbing
in his relief. "It's down at the bottom of the black sea I thought ye
were. I've been tramping this boat, with this good man holding me up (for
I'm too sick to stand), this half hour. Down wid ye now below stairs with
the rest, where I can keep an eye on ye. Come down, I say!"

IX.--OBEYING ORDERS.

"Down below!" the words struck harshly on Dan's ear for good old Brother
Bart was more used to obedience than command, and he was sick and shaken
and doing his guardian duty under sore stress and strain to-night.

"Go below! What for?" asked Dan, shortly. "I'm all right up here, Brother
Bart. I can't stand being packed in downstairs."

"Stand it or not, I'll not have ye up here," said Brother Bart,
resolutely. "Down with ye, Dan Dolan! Ye were put under my orders, and
ye'll have to mind my words."

"Not when it means being sick as a dog all night," answered Dan,
rebelliously. "I tell you I can't stand it down in that stuffy place
below, and I won't, I am going to stay up here."

"And is that the way ye talk?" said Brother Bart, who had a spirit of his
own. "And it's only what I might look for, ye graceless young reprobate!
God knows it was sore against my will that I brought ye with me, Dan
Dolan; for I knew ye'd be a sore trial first to last. But I had to obey
them that are above me. Stay, then, if you will against my word; for it's
all I have to hold ye, since ye are beyant any rule or law.--We'll go
back, my man," continued Brother Bart to the burly dec