"I--I don't feel very well," replied Bob.

"Better go and lie down then. I guess you're in for a spell of
seasickness. Mr. Tarbill has already got his."

Bob thought it would be best to follow the advice. He went to his
berth, and soon he was a very sick boy. He would have given up all
his chances of rounding the Horn--yes, he would even have
sacrificed his share in the rather mythical treasure of Captain
Obed--if he could only have found some place that was not heaving,
pitching and tossing. But the ship rolled on, and the motion
seemed to increase rather than diminish.

It was a week before Bob was entirely well. During that time he
stayed in his bunk, but Captain Spark saw to it that the boy was
well looked after and doctored with such simple remedies as are
used in that common form of illness, which attacks nearly all who
first venture upon the sea.

At the end of the week Bob found that he could stand up without
feeling his head go buzzing around. He ventured out on deck, and
the salt breeze brought some color into his pale cheeks.

"You sort of look as if you had been drawn through a knothole,"
remarked Tom Manton, one of the sailors.

"Yes, old Father Neptune has been playing tricks on him, I reckon,"
added Sam Bender, the second mate.

"I feel as if I had been drawn through two knot-holes, one right
after the other," spoke Bob, with an attempt at a smile.

"You'll soon be all right again now," comforted Tom. "Get a little
salt horse and sea biscuit down for a foundation, and you can build
up on that the finest thing in the way of a meal you ever saw."

For the first time since his illness Bob could think of food
without a shudder. He really began to feel hungry. The old sailor
proved a good prophet. Bob began to mend steadily, and in a few
days he was as active as ever--more so, in fact.

"Now's the time to look for trouble," remarked Captain Spark to his
mate one day.

"Trouble? How?"

"Bob is himself again. He'll be up to some tricks or I'm a
Dutchman. But we must meet him half way. Give him back some of
his own coin. He's on this voyage to be cured, and I'm going to do
it If I have to keelhaul him."

"I guess the men will be only too anxious to do their share. They
like Bob, but he mustn't play too many pranks on them."

"No. Well, I guess they can look out for themselves."

"I guess so," answered the mate with a smile. Later that day
Captain Spark instructed Bob in s