ing such
distinguished passengers as yourselves."

The Count bowed, and the Baron bowed, as they prepared to follow the
skipper down through a small square hole in the deck with a hatch over
it.

"Why, this is not as grand as I had expected," observed the Count. "Not
quite a palace, as you described it, Captain."

"But it is as comfortable as a palace, and I find it far more so in a
heavy sea," observed the skipper. "For you must understand that if the
vessel gives a sudden lurch, it is a great blessing not to be sent fifty
feet away to leeward, which you would be if you were in the room of a
palace. See what comfort we have got here--everything within reach. A
man has only to rise from his chair and tumble into bed, or tumble out
of bed, and sit down in his chair to breakfast. Then, when he dresses
he has only to stretch out his hand to take hold of the things hanging
up against the bulkhead."

While the skipper was pointing out to his passengers the
super-excellence of the accommodation his vessel afforded, a female
voice was heard exclaiming, in shrill tones--

"I must see him, I must see my master, the Count! He has bolted,
decamped, run off without so much as saying why he was going, or where
he was going, or leaving me those full and ample directions which I had
a right to expect."

"Hark!" exclaimed the Count, turning pale. "That must be Johanna Klack;
if she once sees me, she'll take me back, to a certainty. Oh dear me,
what shall I do?"

"I know what I will do," cried the Baron, beginning to ascend the
companion-ladder. "Captain Jan Dunck, keep the Count down here below;
don't let him show himself on any account. I will settle the matter.
This female, this termagant, will carry off one of your passengers, and,
as an honest man, you are bound to protect him."

"Ja, ja," said the Captain; "slip into one of those bunks and you will
be perfectly safe, and if she manages to get down below, my name isn't
Jan Dunck." Saying this, the skipper followed the Baron up on deck,
and, clapping on the hatch, securely bolted it.

The Baron had grasped a boathook, the skipper seized a broomstick, and
in a loud voice shouted to his crew, "Boarders! repel boarders!" In a
boat alongside stood a female, her countenance flushed and irate,
showing by her actions her intention of climbing up the vessel's side.
The crew obeyed their commander's call, and from the fore hatchway
appeared the small ship's boy, holdi