ap with a grin,
"seems to me she must have left her ship and gone to look for another,
for I found her tramping along the pier there, and mewing as if she was
calling out for somebody to show her the road.

"So I thought that, as we have many rats aboard the old craft, she would
be able to pick up a good living there; and I called to her, and she
came at once, and here she is."

Here she was, sure enough; and as Jack ended his story, she chimed in
with a plaintive little "Me-ow," which said, as plainly as ever any cat
spoke yet, "I'm very cold and hungry, and I do wish somebody would take
me below and give me some food!"

She had not long to wait. Half an hour later she was the best-fed cat in
that part of New York City, and that night she lay snugly curled up with
a good warm blanket over her.

Of course, the first thing to do with an adopted cat is to give it a
name, and Jack Harmon, who was a bit of a wag in his way, and a great
admirer of the monster elephant which was just then making such a stir
in New York, called his new pet "Jumbo."

Jumbo soon became the pet of the whole crew, and of the passengers, too,
when they came on board, a few days later, for the voyage back to
England.

Before we were half-way across the ocean, the bits of meat or cake, and
bits of white bread soaked in milk, which were being constantly given
her by one and another, had made her look as round as an apple.

The ladies were never tired of stroking her soft fur and admiring her
dainty white paws, which were now as spotless as snow. The children
romped all day with this new playmate, who seemed to enjoy the sport
quite as much as themselves.

But Jumbo was not content with mere play. She seemed to think herself
bound to do something to "work her passage." Whenever any of the crew
went aloft to take in sail, Jumbo would always climb up, too, as if to
help them.

Jack Harmon was still her favorite, and whenever it came his turn to
stand at the bow and keep watch, there was Jumbo going backward and
forward.

On the eighth night of the voyage, the stars looked dim and
watery, and a low bank of clouds began to rise to windward of us, just
between sea and sky.

The old sailors shook their heads and looked grave, as if they expected
an unusual storm. Suddenly the wind began to blow strongly upon the
starboard quarter, stirring up a cross-sea which tossed the great ship
like a toy.

Nearly all the passengers had gone below, and t