got a better plan"--said the cook
generously.

"Don't talk rubbish, cook," said Sam; "fetch the two cats out and put
'em together."

"Don't mix 'em," said the cook warningly; "for you'll never know which
is which agin if you do."

He cautiously opened the top of the sack and produced his captive,
and Satan, having been relieved from his prison, the two animals were
carefully compared.

"They're as like as two lumps o' coal," said Sam slowly. "Lord, what a
joke on the old man. I must tell the mate o' this; he'll enjoy it."

"It'll be all right if the parrot don't die," said the dainty pessimist,
still harping on his pet theme. "All that bread spoilt, and two cats
aboard."

"Don't mind what he ses," said Sam; "you're a brick, that's what you
are. I'll just make a few holes in the lid o' the boy's chest, and pop
old Satan in. You don't mind, do you, Billy?"

"Of course he don't," said the other men indignantly.

Matters being thus agreeably arranged, Sam got a gimlet, and prepared
the chest for the reception of its tenant, who, convinced that he was
being put out of the way to make room for a rival, made a frantic fight
for freedom.

"Now get something 'eavy and put on the top of it," said Sam, having
convinced himself that the lock was broken; "and, Billy, put the noo cat
in the paint-locker till we start; it's home-sick."

The boy obeyed, and the understudy was kept in durance vile until they
were off Limehouse, when he came on deck and nearly ended his career
there and then by attempting to jump over the bulwark into the next
garden. For some time he paced the deck in a perturbed fashion, and
then, leaping on the stern, mewed plaintively as his native city receded
farther and farther from his view.

"What's the matter with old Satan?" said the mate, who had been let into
the secret. "He seems to have something on his mind."

"He'll have something round his neck presently," said the skipper
grimly.

The prophecy was fulfilled some three hours later, when he came up on
deck ruefully regarding the remains of a bird whose vocabulary had once
been the pride of its native town. He threw it overboard without a
word, and then, seizing the innocent cat, who had followed him under the
impression that it was about to lunch, produced half a brick attached
to a string, and tied it round his neck. The crew, who were enjoying the
joke immensely, raised a howl of protest.

"The Skylark'll never have another like it,