closed the book.

"We were not all on the firing line," replied the young man, smiling.
"I'll venture to say that Hugh did not find his share at all tame."

Hugh smiled and nodded ruefully as his mind flew back to his dangerous
situation as a captive of the desperate filibusters, and he felt that
he could understand a little of what it meant to be in the thick of
the fight.

"Me, too," exclaimed Billy, shuddering at a sudden recollection.
"I haven't told you fellows that I came near having my ear shot
off, that time the other night when I was separated from the rest
of you for a while. Excuse me from anything nearer real battle fire
than that!"

Just at that moment, a soft, regular thump-thump-thump from the deck
behind Hugh's hammock made all the boys turn quickly.

There stood Dave, skillfully flinging gayly colored hoops over a post
at some distance from him.

"Oh, ho! A game of ring-toss, is it?" cried Chester, rising eagerly.
"Say, boys, let's form rival teams and have a tournament."

"Good!" echoed Billy. "The Pickets versus the Pirates!"

"That sounds exciting!" called Hugh, sitting up in the hammock. "Count
me in on that, boys. Guess I can get up long enough to take my turn
now and then."

"Let Dave and Mr. Norton choose sides," suggested Alec, "Dave for
the Pirates and Mr. Norton for the Pickets."

"Hurrah!" cried Mark. "On with the game!"

In less time than it takes to tell it, Dave, grinning broadly at his
prominence, and Norton, entering into the contest with his usual
spirit of enthusiasm, had chosen sides and a list was hastily
written and posted on the cabin wall as follows:

Pirates vs Pickets

Dave Norton

Hugh Billy

Chester Alec

Mark Captain Vinton

"Oh, but I can't play!" protested the captain. "I've got my hands
full with the _Arrow_!"

"We'll take turns and spell you at the helm," returned Norton.
"All hands on board are enlisted in this fight."

Pleased at his insistence, the old captain yielded the wheel whenever
it came his turn to toss, and he proved to be an adept at the game,
to everybody's delight.

Norton and Dave had agreed that the contest should consist of five
complete rounds, giving just twenty opportunities to each side.
Only the total successful tosses would determine the winning score,
but the best individual records would decide who should be the
team captains in subsequent games.

The fun of the thi