he sailors
congratulated themselves that they were not Lascars stoking in the
engine-room, Robert Bostock, generally known on board as Old Bob, having
given it as his opinion that it was "a stinger." Then he chuckled, and
said to the man nearest:

"Look at that there boy! He's a rum un, and no mistake. That's being
British, that is. You'd never see a Frenchy or a Jarman or a 'Talian up
to games like that in the sun."

"That there boy" was Carey Cranford, and he had taken the attention of
the captain as well, who was standing under the awning in company with
the doctor, and the two chuckled.

"There, doctor," he said; "did you ever see so much of the monkey in a
boy before? Wouldn't you think a chap might be content in the shade on
a day like this? What's he doing--training for a sweep?"

A modern steamer does not offer the facilities for going aloft furnished
by a sailing ship, and her masts and yards are pretty well coated with
soot; but Carey Cranford, in his investigating spirit, had not paused to
consider that, for he had caught sight of what looked like a blue cloud
low down on the southern horizon.

"One of the islands," he said to himself. "Wonder what's its name."

He did not stop to enquire, but went below, threw the strap of his large
binocular glass over his head, ascended to the deck again, and then,
selecting the highest mast, well forward of the funnel, he made his way
as far aloft as he could, and stood in a very precarious position
scanning the distant cloud-like spot.

The place he had selected to take his observation was on one of the
yards, just where it crossed the mast, and if he had contented himself
with a sitting position the accident would not have happened; but he had
mentally argued that the higher a person was the wider his optical
range, so he must needs add the two feet or so extra gained by standing
instead of sitting. His left arm was round the mast, and both hands
were steadying the glass as, intent upon the island, he carefully turned
the focussing screw, when the steamer, rising to the long smooth swell,
careened over slightly, and one of the boy's feet, consequent upon the
smoothness of his deck shoes, glided from beneath him, bringing forth
the captain's warning cry and following words.

For the next moment, in spite of a frantic clutch at the mast, the boy
was falling headlong down, as if racing his glass, but vainly, for this
reached the deck first, the unfortunate