ed, and down went bird, cage, cat, and all,
slap-dash into the sea!

The next moment there came a big splash, and there was our pantry-boy,
Bob Wilkins (the one that used always to carry the cage up on deck, you
know), overboard after 'em. And as if that wasn't enough, Bill Harris
the carpenter (who was a special chum of Bob's, and happened to be
standing by at the time) catches hold of a life-buoy, and overboard _he_
goes too. So there they all were, the cat after the bird, Bob after the
cat, and Bill Harris after Bob.

"Man overboard!" sang out half a dozen of us.

"Stop her!" cried the first officer. "Stand by to lower the boat! Cast
off the gripes! let go the davit-tackle!"

You should have seen how quick that boat was lowered, and how the men
made her fly along! When we picked 'em up, (though they were a long way
astern by this time) Bill was clinging to the life-buoy, and Bob had got
hold of it with one hand and the cage with the other. The bird was
fluttering about and looking precious scared, as if he didn't like going
to sea in a cage; and the cat was sitting on Bill's shoulder, and
holding on with every claw he had. The passengers sent round the hat for
Bob Wilkins, and a pretty deal of money they got; but I can promise you
he thought more of the thanks Miss Ashton gave him for the job than of
all the money twice over.

But I was just going to leave out the best part of the whole story. They
say it's "an ill wind that blows nobody good," and so it came out that
time, sure enough. When the young lady saw Bob jump overboard, and
thought he was going to be drowned in trying to save her bird, it gave
her such a fright, that _she_, who couldn't even sit up without help,
jumped right up on her feet and looked over the side after him! Well,
sir, from that day forth, to the end of her voyage, she was always
better able to move than before; and the great London doctor who cured
her afterward (for she was cured at last) said that "nervous shock," as
he called it, had been the saving of her, and that he'd had just such
another case already. Now, that's as true as I sit here; and if you
don't believe it, here comes Bob Wilkins, and you can ask him.

DAVID KER.

LITTLE MARGARET'S KITCHEN, AND WHAT SHE DID IN IT.--XII.

_By_ PHILLIS BROWNE, _Author of "A Year's Cookery," "What Girls Can Do,"
&c._

Many were the consultations which Margaret and Mary held together trying
to decide what was to be made at the