en, boys are
different.

So little Jacob called. "Sol!" he said.

Little Sol turned his head quickly. "Hello, Jake," said he. "Come on
out. There's lots to see out here to-day."

"Are--are there things to see that I couldn't see from here?" asked
little Jacob.

"Of course there are," answered little Sol, scornfully. "You can't see
anything from there--anything much."

"The ship pitches a good deal," remarked little Jacob. "Don't you think
so?"

"Oh, some," said little Sol, "but it's safe enough after you get here.
You could crawl out. I walked out. See here, I'll walk in, to where you
are, on my hands."

And little Sol scrambled up and walked in on his hands, with his feet in
the air. He let his feet down carelessly. "There!" he said. "You see."

"Well," said little Jacob. "I can't walk on my hands, because I don't
know how. You show me, Sol, will you?--when it's calm. And I'll walk out
on my feet."

Little Jacob was rather white, but he didn't hesitate, and he walked out
on the bowsprit to the place where he generally sat. It was rather hard
work keeping his balance, but he did it. And little Sol came after, and
said he would show him how to walk on his hands, some day when it was
calm enough. For little Sol didn't think little Jacob was afraid, and
the two boys liked each other very much.

"There!" said little Sol, when they were settled, "you look out ahead,
and see if you see anything."

So little Jacob looked and looked for a long time, but he didn't know
what he was looking for, and that makes a great difference about seeing
a thing.

"I don't see anything," said he. "What is it, Sol--a ship!"

"No, oh no," answered little Sol. "It's on the water--on the surface.
We've almost got to one of 'em."

[Illustration]

So little Jacob looked again, and he saw what looked, at first, like a
calm streak on the water. There seemed to be little sticks sticking up
out of the calm streak. Then he saw that it looked like a narrow island,
except that it went up and down with the waves. Sometimes he saw one
part of it, and then he saw another part. And the island was all covered
with water, and the water near it was calm, and it was a yellowish
brown, like seaweed. In a minute or two the _Industry_ was ploughing
through it, and he could see that it was a great mass of floating
seaweed that gave way, before the ship, like water, and the little
sticks that he had seen, sticking up, were the stems. A little way a