y but promptly sat down on the
deck beside Aileen. His elbow even touched one of the folds of her
garment. He went straight into paradise and remained there!

As for Aileen, if she observed the action at all, she probably set it
down to the enthusiasm of a more than usually musical member of the
ship's crew.

While she was still dwelling on the last note, a grinding sound was
heard and a slight tremor felt that not only stopped the song abruptly
but checked the applause that was ready to burst from every lip and
hand. Edgar vanished from the spot where he sat quite as quickly as he
had appeared, and in a moment was at his station. The captain's voice
was heard on the bridge. The signal was given to stop the engines--to
back them--to stop again. Eager inquiries followed--"What's that? Did
you feel it? Hear it? Could it be a rock? Impossible, surely?" No
one could answer with knowledge or authority, save those who were too
busy to be spoken to. Accustomed as they all were for many weeks past
to the ceaseless motion of the engines, the sudden stoppage had a
strange and solemnising effect on most of the passengers. Presently the
order was given to steam ahead, and once more they breathed more freely
on hearing again the familiar grinding of the screw.

To the anxious inquiries afterwards made of him, the captain only smiled
and said he could not tell what it was--perhaps it might have been a
piece of wreck. "But it did not feel like that, captain," objected one
of the passengers, who, having frequently been to sea before, was
regarded as being semi-nautical; "it was too like a touch on something
solid. You've heard, I suppose, of coral reefs growing in places where
none are marked on our charts?"

"I have," answered the captain drily.

"Might it not be something of the kind?"

"It might," replied the captain.

"We are not far from the coast of China, are we?" asked the
semi-nautical passenger.

"Not very far."

Seeing that the captain was not disposed to be communicative, the
semi-nautical passenger retired to persecute and terrify some of the
ladies with his surmises. Meanwhile the well was sounded and a slight
increase of water ascertained, but nothing worth speaking of, and the
pumps were set to work.

The anxiety of the passengers was soon allayed, everything going on as
smoothly as before. The evening merged into night. The moon rose
slowly and spread a path of rippling silver from the sh