the wind was
rather heavy that afternoon and many of them remained in the cabins. But
the four children had a great game of hide and seek all over the
forward deck.

Finally Daddy Bunker appeared from aft to make sure that none of the
quartette was lost. He took Laddie and Vi below with him after a time
and the two older children were left alone. They found seats in the lee
of what the ship's men called "the house" and sat down to rest and talk.
But every now and then one of them jumped up to look astern to see if
the land had disappeared, as Daddy Bunker said it would.

"It's a long time going," said Rose.

"Well, there is a lot of it to go. Don't you remember," said Russ, "how
big the North American continent is in the geography?"

"Oh! Is that it?" cried Rose.

"Yes. We've got to lose the whole top part of North America," her
confident brother declared.

There was some sort of officer (he had brass buttons and wore a cap, so
Russ and Rose knew he must be an officer) pacing the deck, back and
forth, not far from their chairs. Every time he came near he threw a
pleasant word to the brother and sister. Russ and Rose began to ask him
questions and sometimes trotted beside him as he paced his lookout
watch. Violet would have delighted in this man, for he seemed to know
almost everything about ships and the sea and was perfectly willing to
answer questions.

Rose asked him if, after they had lost the land, they would find the
Gulf Stream that Daddy Bunker had told them about.

"Pretty soon thereafter, little lady," said the man.

"And--and does it have banks?" pursued Rose.

"Does what have banks?" the man asked, in surprise. "The Gulf Stream?"

"Yes, sir."

"No," chuckled the sailor. "It's not like a river--not just like one."

"Then how do you know when you come to the Gulf Stream?" demanded Russ.
"I should think you'd sail over it without knowing."

But the sailor told them that the stream, or current, was very broad,
that the water was much warmer than the surrounding ocean, and that the
Gulf Stream was even a different color from the colder ocean.

"Oh, we won't miss it," declared the man, shaking his head.

Just then Rose saw something out over the ocean, sailing low and making
a great flapping of black wings. She pointed eagerly:

"There's a buzzard, Russ--like those we saw in Texas."

"Oh, no, little lady, that isn't a buzzard," said the sailor.

"It must be a gull. There were lots of them ba