, and twisting one end of the line round his left hand, went to
the open gangway of that side of the vessel to throw down the bucket
into the clear, cool water.

But he paused, for just beneath him, fastened by ropes, were a small
whale-boat and an outrigger canoe.

He walked farther, and as soon as he was clear of the two craft, he sent
the bucket down topsy-turvy so that it filled; hauled it up and turned
to find himself hemmed in by a semi-circle of blacks.

Again acting on the impulse of the moment, Carey placed a second hand to
the bucket and gave it a quick swing round, discharging its contents in
an arc, with the intention of dowsing the savages; but they were too
quick for him, bounding back, grinning with delight at their cleverness,
but coming forward again, laughing like a pack of mischievous boys to
tempt him to throw again.

"Oh, I'm not going to keep on at that," muttered Carey, as he raised the
bucket again and threw it overboard for a fresh supply; and as soon as
he had it up, he knelt down by it, had a good sluice, and rose to begin
towelling, while the grinning blacks looked on.

As he finished, with the towel now well damped, he made believe to throw
the water over his audience, and as they bounded away, he hurled the
contents over the side, put down the bucket under the bulwarks and
turned to go back to the cabin, making the wet towel snap like a whip as
he flicked at first one and then at another of the naked bodies so
temptingly displayed, the blacks roaring with laughter as they leaped
and bounded about to avoid the cuts; but far from showing any resentment
against the boy, evidently treating it all as a magnificent piece of
fun.

The boy left them chattering and laughing, Black Jack as merry as the
rest, while the object of their mirth began to wonder at the power he
seemed to have exercised over the pack of childlike savages, and to ask
himself whether there was anything in these people to mind.

"But dogs will bite if they are set at any one by their master," the boy
said to himself in conclusion, and found himself face to face with the
man of whom he had been thinking.

"Oh, there you are," he said, sourly. "Go and help them with the
rations, and then go and feed the black dogs."

Carey nodded, and from some half-conceived and misty notion that he
could not even analyse to himself, more than that it had something to do
with trying to make himself as much master of the black fellows