slave?"

"Go down and do your work like a sensible man," was the reply.

At these words the engineer took umbrage at once, and, scowling
fiercely, removed his greasy jacket and flung his cap on the deck. He
then finished the brandy which he had brought up with him, and gazed
owlishly at the Kentish shore.

"I'm going to have a wash," he said loudly, and, sitting down, removed
his boots.

"Go down to the engines first," said the skipper, "and I'll send the boy
to you with a bucket and some soap."

"Bucket!" replied the engineer scornfully, as he moved to the side. "I'm
going to have a proper wash."

"Hold him!" roared the skipper suddenly. "Hold him!"

The mate, realising the situation, rushed to seize him, but the
engineer, with a mad laugh, put his hands on the side and vaulted into
the water. When he rose the steamer was twenty yards ahead.

"Go astarn!" yelled the mate.

"How can I go astarn when there's nobody at the engines?" shouted the
skipper, as he hung on to the wheel and brought the boat's head sharply
round. "Git a line ready."

The mate, with a coil of rope in his hand, rushed to the side, but his
benevolent efforts were frustrated by the engineer, who, seeing the
boat's head making straight for him, saved his life by an opportune
dive. The steamer rushed by.

"Turn 'er agin!" screamed the mate.

The captain was already doing so, and in a remarkably short space of
time the boat, which had described a complete circle, was making again
for the engineer.

"Look out for the line!" shouted the mate warningly.

"I don't want your line," yelled the engineer. "I'm going ashore."

"Come aboard!" shouted the captain imploringly, as they swept past
again. "We can't manage the engines."

"Put her round again," said the mate. "I'll go for him with the boat.
Haul her in, boy."

The boat, which was dragging astern, was hauled close, and the mate
tumbled into her, followed by the boy, just as the captain was in the
middle of another circle?-to the intense indignation of a crowd of
shipping, large and small, which was trying to get by.

"Ahoy!" yelled the master of a tug which was towing a large ship. "Take
that steam roundabout out of the way. What the thunder are you doing?"

"Picking up my engineer," replied the captain, as he steamed right
across the other's bows, and nearly ran down a sailing-barge, the
skipper of which, a Salvation Army man, was nobly fighting with his
feelings.

"Why don't