he could do nothing
without further means and appliances, and, in the meantime, he was only
half doing work of supreme importance. He wished to glance slightly at
the social and spiritual work of the fleet, but his heart was in his own
trade.

The weather held up nicely, and on the morning after Ferrier saved the
broken-ribbed youngster, the schooner had a rare crowd on board. The men
tumbled over the side with lumbering abandonment, and met each other
like schoolboys who gather in the common-room after a holiday. As Blair
said, they were like a lot of Newfoundland puppies. Poor Tom Betts came
up among the roistering crowd--pale, weary, and with that strange,
disquieting smile which flits over sick men's faces; he was received as
an interesting infant, and his narratives concerning the marvellous
skill of the doctor were enough to supply the fleet with gossip for a
month. None of the "weeds" of the fleet were on board, and the assembly
might be taken as representing the pick of the North Sea population.
With every observant faculty on the stretch Ferrier strolled from group
to group, chatting with man after man; no one was in the least familiar,
but the doctor was struck with the simple cordiality of all the fellows.
A subtle something was at work, and it gradually dawned on the young
student that these good folk had the sentiment of brotherhood which is
given by a common cause and a common secret. The early Christians loved
one another, and here, on that grey sea, our sceptic saw the early
Christian movement beginning all over again, with every essential
feature reproduced. All types were represented; the grave man, the stern
man, the sweet-faced dreamy man--even the comic man. The last-named here
was much beloved and admired on account of his vein of humour, and he
was decidedly the Sydney Smith of the fleet. His good-temper was
perfect; a large fellow of the Jutish type lifted him with one huge arm,
and hung him over the side; the humorist treated this experience as a
pleasant form of gentle exercise, and smiled blandly until he was
replaced on deck. When he was presented with a cigar, he gave an
exposition of the walk and conversation of an extremely haughty
aristocrat, and, on his saying, "Please don't haddress me as Bill. Say
'Hahdeyedoo, Colonel,'" the burly mob raised such a haw-haw as never was
heard elsewhere, and big fellows doubled themselves up out of sheer
enjoyment, the fun was so exquisite.

Lewis was