l were as quiet as little boys could be
expected to be, for they knew that Captain Solomon was very busy at
first. But, at last, the things were all out of the _Industry_; and
Captain Solomon had to go ashore to buy things for the ship to take home
again. So he had the sailors let down a boat, and he looked around for
the boys. And they were so close behind him that he didn't see them
until little Sol touched him.

"Hello, boys!" cried Captain Solomon. "Want to go ashore with me?"

"Yes, sir," called out little Jacob and little Sol, together, so that it
sounded as if there was only one boy.

"Well, hop in, then," said Captain Solomon.

And little Sol hopped in, and little Jacob hopped in; and Captain
Solomon got in, and the sailors rowed them ashore. And they got out of
the boat upon some wide stone steps that went down to the water, and the
boys were very glad, for it was the first time that they had set foot
upon the ground for a long time. And little Jacob was surprised to find
that the ground seemed to be waving around just like the deck of the
ship, so that he couldn't walk very well. And he spoke of it to little
Sol, and Captain Solomon heard him, and he gave a great laugh.

"So it does," Captain Solomon said. "So it does. And so it will for the
next three days, Jacob, if I'm not mistaken. It's queer ground, Jacob,
isn't it, to be waving around so? Must be an earthquake."

And little Jacob looked up at Captain Solomon to see whether he was
joking or not. For Captain Solomon was very apt to joke, but you
couldn't tell whether he was or not unless you looked at him, and you
couldn't tell, even then, unless you knew him pretty well.

And little Jacob decided that Captain Solomon was joking, so he smiled.
"Yes, sir," he said. "It must be an earthquake. We were very lucky,
weren't we, to be just in time for an earthquake?"

It was Captain Solomon's turn to look at little Jacob to see what he
meant.

"Ha! Ha! Very lucky, indeed, Jacob," said Captain Solomon. "We're lucky
dogs, Jacob."

And little Sol didn't say anything, but only grinned; and he could do
that pretty well. And they went, by queer streets, to the office of
Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's agent, who sold the things for
them. And after that they went about among the shops and saw all the
things that the men had to sell, and Captain Solomon went with them. And
the men were very polite to Captain Solomon because they thought he
might buy so