r," I answered, laughing at the caution.

"Steamer on the port bow!" cried some one forward.

"Ready with the barrel!" called the officer.

"All ready, sir!" replied the quarter-master, whose attention was thus
turned away from me.

The barrel was lifted over the rail, near where I sat, and held there
till the order should be given to let it go. The quarter-master had a
match in his hand to light the fireworks. Over on my right I could now
see the little steamer, rising and falling on the long swells of the
placid, moonlit ocean.

"Light up, Murray!" called the officer, when the despatch boat was but a
short distance from the steamer.

The blue-light hissed and flared up when the match was applied, shedding
its livid glare upon the weather-stained faces of the seamen.

"Over with it!" shouted the officer.

It soused into the water, and I leaned forward to observe the splash.

"Stand by the fore-braces!" called the officer; and the seamen rushed
forward to execute the order.

At that moment I heard a step behind me on the deck; but I was too much
absorbed in watching the blue-light on the barrel to heed anything else.
The next instant I found myself spinning through the air, and then
plunging deep down into the bosom of the tranquil sea. I was in my
element now, though it was rather too much element; but I struck out, as
soon as I rose to the surface, for the blue-light. I shouted for help;
but the great steamer seemed to be hard of hearing, and went on her way
as though nothing had happened. I swam as I had never swum before, and
reached the barrel just as the despatch boat stopped her wheels to pick
it up.

"Steamer ahoy!" I shouted

"Who's there?" called a voice from her deck.

"Man overboard!" I replied, puffing from the violence of my exertions.

"Where away?"

"On the barrel."

"I see him!" said one of the hands, as the bow of the boat ran up to the
barrel.

A rope was thrown to me, and I was assisted on board.

"What's the matter? Did you fall overboard from the steamer?" asked a
well-dressed, gentlemanly man, on the deck of the boat.

"Yes, sir; I suppose I did; I don't know exactly how it happened," I
replied, spitting the salt water out of my mouth.

"You are fortunate to fall over just as the despatch boat was
approaching you."

"Probably I shouldn't have fallen overboard if I had not been watching
the barrel so intently."

"What shall we do for you?" asked the gentleman, kindly. "