added quizzingly, "we must now see about getting out to the old
fellow."

But this was sooner said than done.

There was the ship, it was true, and there were we on the shore looking
at her; but, there between us stretched an expanse of nearly two miles
of blue water, which we certainly could not cross by swimming, although
dad was a pretty good hand at that, and had made me, too, a fair adept
in the art for my years.

How to reach the vessel, therefore, was the question.

Dad tried waving his handkerchief to attract the attention of those on
board; but the crew of the _Josephine_ appeared to be all asleep, for
nobody took any notice of the signal. Foiled in this hope, dad turned
round to me again with a puzzled expression on his face, as if wondering
what he should do next, though of course I could not suggest anything.

Just then Jake, who had been looking at my father very attentively all
this while, as if "taking stock" of his movements, so to speak, suddenly
burst into one of his huge guffaws.

"Yah, yah, massa, golly you no see for suah!" he cried out in an ecstasy
of enjoyment at what he considered a rare joke. "You am look de wrong
way. Look dere, look dere!"

"Look where?" asked dad, not quite making out what particular direction
Jake especially wished to draw his attention to, for the darkey was
whirling one of his arms round him like a windmill to each point of the
compass in turn; and, but that he had the bridles of the horses slung
over his other arm, he would probably have gesticulated as frantically
also with that.

"Dere, dere--t'oder way, massa," repeated Jake, nodding his woolly head
as he laughed and showed his teeth, this time indicating the extreme
left of the bay, to which our backs had been turned; but where, on our
now looking, we noticed a little jetty running out into the sea, with a
boat putting off from it towards the ship.

"Oh!" ejaculated dad; "what a stupid I am, to be sure!"

Dad's exclamation made Jake break out afresh into a loud cachinnation.

"Golly, dis chile can't 'tand dat," he shouted. "Massa um 'tupid, massa
um 'tupid, yah, yah!" and he almost doubled himself in two with
merriment, his hearty laughter being so contagious that both dad and I
could not help joining in. So there were we all chuckling away at a
fine rate at the idea of our not noticing either the jetty or the boat
before. We had been so blindly anxious to reach the _Josephine_ that we
had looked