d answered in a
much subdued voice,

"No, papa--not much. I think I've barked my knees and bumped my head,
but I guess that's all--except the wetting!" shivering a little.

"Yes, you mustn't take cold. I'll help you right back, and send Martha
to you. You'd better crawl into your little nest again as soon as
you're thoroughly dry, and don't venture outside again until I come and
get you, my storm-bird."

"Father," she said, as he was about leaving her at the cabin door, "do
you _never_ sleep? I left you up at midnight, and I find you up at
dawn."

"Sleep? Oh, yes, sometimes. That's the last thing a captain thinks
of, though. If I should sleep too much it might mean an eternal sleep
for my passengers and crew. Now hurry into bed and get warm, chicken.
I'll see that you have some hot chocolate at once."

It was nearly two hours later, and Hope had quite slept off the effects
of her wetting, when the two girls ventured forth again, but now the
motion was still and even, and the old ship steady as a house floor,
for they were under the lee of Cape Trafalgar, making swift time for
Tarifa and the Straits.

As the girls sat lazily, after their morning's outlook, in the pleasant
saloon, amid a group of ladies and children, listening to the cheerful
chatter going on about them, and laughing at the antics of the little
tots playing about in charge of their gaily-turbaned Indian ayahs, or
nurses, Dwight came in, all excitement, and cried,

"Come, girls, we're going to have an exhibition. Loo Wing has made an
elegant kite--regular Chinese one, you know--and we're going to fly it
from the after-deck. Hurry up!"

They hastily followed his rush around the guards, and after them
trailed all the children old enough to run alone, and many of the
mothers, for anything new is welcome at sea. On the after-deck they
found the captain, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Malcolm, and other passengers,
assisting the cook's boy, Loo Wing, inputting the last touches to a
singular erection of red, yellow, and purple, made of crinkled paper,
which looked like a hybrid creature, half bird, half dragon.

Loo Wing had it in hand, and Mr. Lawrence was adjusting its immensely
long tail, while the captain was paying out twine from a stick.

"Oh, uncle!" called Dwight in an agonized voice, "you know I was to
start it. Loo Wing promised I should."

"Well, well, who said you weren't? We're only making ready. But be
careful and not let it get tang