w, captain."

"Is Mollie out in the cabin?" asked the sufferer, persistently returning
to the subject near his heart.

"No, sir; she is not, just now."

"Has she gone on deck?"

"No, sir."

"Where is she, Noddy?" demanded he, earnestly, as he attempted to raise
himself up in his cot.

"Don't stir, captain; it will make you worse, if you do."

"Tell me where Mollie is at once, or I shall jump out of my berth. Is
she--is she--"

"She is in her room, captain. Don't be worried about her," replied
Noddy, who was afraid that the truth would have a bad effect upon the
devoted father. "She laid down a little while ago."

"Is she dead?" gasped the captain, with a mighty effort to utter the
appalling word.

"O, no, sir! She was taken sick a little while ago."

"O, mercy!" groaned the sick man. "I know it all now."

"It's no use to deny it, sir. She has got the fever."

"And I lay here helpless!"

"She said she felt a little better when I came out. I gave her the
medicine, and did everything for her."

"I must go to her."

"You will worry her to death, if you do, captain. She is more troubled
about you than she is about herself. If you lay still, so I can report
that you are doing well, it will be the best thing in the world for her.
It will do her more good than the medicine."

"Tell her I am well, Noddy!"

"It won't do to tell her too much; she won't believe anything, if I do,"
said Noddy, sorely troubled about the moral management of the cases.

"Tell her I am well, Noddy; and I will go and sit by her," replied the
sufferer, who was no more able to get out of his bed than he was to cure
the fearful disease.

"I can't do anything, captain, if you don't keep still in your bed. She
is a little out just now; but I think she will do very well, if you only
let her alone."

Captain McClintock was in an agony of suspense; but Noddy succeeded in
consoling him so that he promised to remain quietly in his bed. As
physician and nurse, as well as friend and comforter, the cabin-boy
found his hands full; but he had a heart big enough for the occasion;
and all day and all night he went from one patient to another,
ministering to their wants with as much skill and judgment as though he
had been trained in a sick room.

Mollie grow worse as the hours wore heavily away; but this was to be
expected, and the patient nurse was not discouraged by the progressive
indications of the disease. Towards morning the captain we