ht of her parting words, "Put your trust in the Lord, Robert, and
read His Word." I resolved to try to obey her, but this I found was no
easy matter, for the sailors were a rough lot of fellows, who cared
little for the Bible. But, I must say, they were a hearty, good-natured
set, and much better, upon the whole, than many a ship's crew that I
afterwards sailed with.

We were fortunate in having fair winds this voyage, and soon found
ourselves on the other side of the _line_, as we jack-tars call the
Equator.

Of course the crew did not forget the old custom of shaving all the men
who had never crossed the line before. Our captain was a jolly old man,
and uncommonly fond of "sky-larking." He gave us leave to do what we
liked the day we crossed the line; so, as there were a number of wild
spirits among us, we broke through all the ordinary rules, or, rather,
we added on new rules to them.

The old hands had kept the matter quiet from us greenhorns, so that,
although we knew they were going to do some sort of mischief, we didn't
exactly understand what it was to be.

About noon of that day I was called on deck and told that old father
Neptune was coming aboard, and we were to be ready to receive him. A
minute after, I saw a tremendous monster come up over the side of the
ship and jump on the deck. He was crowned with sea-weed, and painted in
a wonderful fashion; his clothes were dripping wet, as if he had just
come from the bottom of the sea. After him came another monster with a
petticoat made of sailcloth, and a tippet of a bit of old tarpaulin.
This was Neptune's wife, and these two carried on the most remarkable
antics I ever saw. I laughed heartily, and soon discovered, from the
tones of their voices, which of my shipmates Neptune and his wife were.
But my mirth was quickly stopped when I was suddenly seized by several
men, and my face was covered over with a horrible mixture of tar and
grease!

Six of us youngsters were treated in this way; then the lather was
scraped off with a piece of old hoop-iron, and, after being thus shaved,
buckets of cold water were thrown over us.

At last, after a prosperous voyage, we arrived at our fishing-ground in
the South Seas, and a feeling of excitement and expectation began to
show itself among the men, insomuch that our very eyes seemed brighter
than usual.

One night those of us who had just been relieved from watch on deck,
were sitting on the lockers down bel