Sailorman. And he had come all the way from
the China Sea at a puff of the Chinaman's tobacco! Certainly magic
tobacco, that! But it was a pity that Mr. Mizzen had been called away
from the China Sea, all for nothing, while he was so busy gathering
boxes to box compasses with! No wonder he had felt put out about it. And
it must have been a queer sort of ship, with its shutters, and all those
skippers and mates--did they really like to knit and sew after they had
got the ship to going? It would be a wonderful thing to sail in a ship
like that; he wished he had thought to ask Mr. Mizzen more about it. He
must tell Aunt Amanda at once.

He ran to the back door and burst into the back room, crying out "Aunt
Amanda!"

Aunt Amanda was sound asleep in her chair, with her head back and her
mouth open; the gas was burning brightly overhead, and the clock was
ticking away distinctly on the mantel-piece.

"Aunt Amanda!" cried Freddie.

She awoke with a jump, blinked her eyes, and said:

"Hah! Where's the--what's the--who said--Where's Toby? What's the
matter?"

"It's me, Aunt Amanda," cried Freddie, breathlessly, "and the
Sailorman's just been here and gone, and I called him with the pipe, and
I can call him whenever I want him, and he gave me a piece of paper,
and he talks like a singing-book, and there's a parrot that stutters,
and they have to bale out the water with dippers because the ship's
named The Sieve, and we mustn't lose the paper because the runaway
sailor wore false whiskers, and he feeds on tacks instead of pins, and
we have to hold on tight to the paper, and one of the men on the ship is
always late, and we mustn't lose the paper, because----"

"Stop! Stop!" said Aunt Amanda. "What on earth is the child talking
about? What's all this about a Sailorman and a paper?"

"He's the one that brought the Chinaman's tobacco from China, and he
gave me a piece of paper, and here it is, and we mustn't lose it,
because----"

"One minute, Freddie! Now you just stand right there, perfectly still,
and tell me about it slowly. Now, then; what about this Sailorman? Slow,
slow."

It was a long time before Freddie made her understand exactly what had
happened, but at last she did understand, from beginning to end. She was
grieved and horrified that he had smoked the tobacco, but there was no
help for it now, and she was too much excited by his tale to scold him
very long.

"What's the paper he give you?" said she, when