' together, and
before Svorenssen could sing out or do anything they was at the rail,
and the pair of 'em went overboard, locked in one another's arms."

"Went overboard!" I reiterated. "Good Heavens! what an extraordinary
thing! And was no effort made to save them?"

"Svorenssen sung out, of course," replied the boatswain, "but he
couldn't leave the wheel, for 'twas pipin' up a freshish breeze on our
port quarter, and we was doin' about seven, or seven and a half knots,
with topmast and lower stunsails set to port, and of course we had to
take 'em in, clew up the royal and to'ga'ntsail, and haul down the gaff-
tops'l before we could round to; and that took us so long that at last,
when we'd brought the hooker to the wind, hove her to, and had got the
jolly-boat over the side, we knowed that it'd be no earthly use to look
for either of 'em. All the same, I took the boat, with three hands, and
we pulled back over the course we'd come; as near as we could guess at
it; but although we pulled about until daylight. We never got a sight
of either of 'em."

"What a truly extraordinary story!" I repeated. "And, pray, who is now
in command of the ship?"

"Well, I s'pose I am, as much as anybody--though there haven't been much
`commandin'' since the skipper was lost," answered Enderby. "But I'm
the oldest and most experienced man aboard, and the others have been
sort of lookin' to me to advise 'em what to do; and since there's ne'er
a one of us as knows anything about navigation I advised that we should
heave-to, hoist a signal of distress, and then wait until something
comed along that would supply us with a navigator. But now that you've
comed along we needn't waste any more of this fine fair wind, because I
s'pose you won't have no objection to do our navigatin' for us, eh?"

"That depends entirely upon where you are bound for," I replied. "Of
course I shall be very pleased to navigate the ship to the nearest port
on your way, but I cannot promise to do more than that. And you have
not yet told me where you are bound. Did I not understand that it is to
some island?"

"Ay, yes, that's right," answered the boatswain, "but,"--here he raised
his voice to a shout--"Billy, come here, my lad, and tell the gen'leman
what you knows about this here v'yage."

Whereupon, to my astonishment, a very intelligent-looking boy, of
apparently about eleven or twelve years of age, emerged from the pantry,
where it appeared he h