and comfortable."

He put his arm round her waist and squeezed her hand, and aided by this
moral support, Miss Harris not only consented to remain, but found
various advantages in the forecastle over the cabin, which had escaped
the notice of previous voyagers.

"I'll leave you the lantern," said the mate, making it fast, "and we
shall be on deck most o' the night. We get under way at two."

He quitted the forecastle, followed by the skipper, after a polite but
futile attempt to give him precedence, and made his way to the cabin for
two or three hours' sleep.

"There'll be a row at the other end, Ted," said the skipper, nervously,
as he got into his bunk. "Louisa's sure to blame me for letting you keep
company with a gal like this. We was talking about you only the other
day, and she said if you was married five years from now, it 'ud be quite
soon enough."

"Let Loo mind her own business," said the mate, sharply; "she's not going
to nag me. She's not my wife, thank goodness!"

He turned over and fell fast asleep, waking up fresh and bright three
hours later, to commence what he fondly thought would be the pleasantest
voyage of his life.

The Arabella dropped slowly down with the tide, the wind being so light
that she was becalmed by every tall warehouse on the way. Off Greenwich,
however, the breeze freshened somewhat, and a little later Miss Harris,
looking somewhat pale as to complexion and untidy as to hair, came slowly
on deck.

"Where's the looking-glass?" she asked, as Ted hastened to greet her.
"How does my hair look?"

"All wavy," said the infatuated young man; "all little curls and
squiggles. Come down in the cabin; there's a glass there."

Miss Harris, with a light nod to the skipper as he sat at the tiller,
followed the mate below, and giving vent to a little cry of indignation
as she saw herself in the glass, waved the amorous Ted on deck, and
started work on her disarranged hair.

At breakfast-time a little friction was caused by what the mate bitterly
termed the narrow-minded, old-fashioned ways of the skipper. He had
arranged that the skipper should steer while he and Miss Harris
breakfasted, but the coffee was no sooner on the table than the skipper
called him, and relinquishing the helm in his favour, went below to do
the honours. The mate protested.

"It's not proper," said the skipper. "Me and 'er will 'ave our meals
together, and then you must have yours. She's under my car