er sheep-faced and self-conscious.
One musical instrument was a wooden box rigged up with strings and a
long handle; another was formed from a couple of huge soup-spoons tied
together, on which the player beat rhythmically with a smaller spoon;
the third was a poker, dangling from a string, banged heartily with an
enormous nail as it swung to and fro; the fourth was a queer, home-made
drum, which looked as if it had been made out of a wooden bandbox.

Somehow they contrived to coax out music of a sort, and a few young men
and girls were solemnly gyrating to it in a way to make you giddy even
to watch. When a man thought he had had enough, or wanted to dance with
another girl, he dropped his partner with alarming suddenness, bowed
stiffly without smile or word, and left her _plante la_. It was
evidently etiquette not to speak to your partner. At the end of a
dance, the conductor with the lobster-claw nose looked up to our deck,
bowing low with his hand on his heart, and then all the audience
leaning over the rail began fumbling in their pockets if they were men,
or opening their purses or gold bags if they were women. Down poured a
shower of small silver and copper, little boys scrambling to pick it
up, and hand it to the conductor, who would, Mrs. Van der Windt said,
divide the money among the members of his quaint band.

I had a few shillings with me, and I'd been so much amused that I felt
like being generous. Luckily, Mother couldn't see me, and scold! I took
half a dozen coins--shillings and sixpences--and wrapping them
hurriedly up in half the cover torn off a magazine I was reading, I
aimed the little parcel to fall at the comic conductor's feet.

Generally I can throw fairly straight, for Stan took some pains with
that part of my education when I was a small girl; but just at that
instant someone standing next me moved, knocked me on the elbow, and
spoilt my aim.

Instead of falling in front of Mr. Lobster-Claw, the parcel hit the ear
of a very tall young man among the crowd below, who had been standing
with his back to me. He turned quickly, not knowing what had happened,
glanced up and caught my eyes, as I was looking down quite distressed.

[Illustration: "_He turned around quickly, glanced up and caught my
eyes, as I was looking down, quite distressed_"]

I had noticed his figure in the crush, because he towered nearly a head
over everyone else, and I had a dim impression that he had good
shoulders; but