like sweeps, were ranged double-banked along the sides of
the launch, she was pulled away slowly from the jetty out towards the
_Josephine_ in the offing, Jake, who had been left ashore to mind the
horses, casting longing looks of regret after us. He, too, would have
dearly liked to have gone off to the ship.

It was heavy work, even with the aid of the sweeps, rowing such a
distance under the broiling mid-day sun, for there was no breeze to aid
the boat's progress through the water, and the heavy ground-swell that
was rolling in to the land of course greatly retarded the rowers. Every
moment the launch plunged almost bows under into the hollow of the sea,
then rising again suddenly as the waves passed under her keel, her stern
sinking down level with the surface at the same time and her prow being
high in the air. I thought it somewhat dangerous at first, but dad and
the other men took it so coolly that I was soon reassured and quite
enjoyed the motion.

It seemed ever so much nicer than swinging to me; for the up and down
movement was as regular as clockwork, in rhythmical harmony with the
undulations of the unbroken billows that swept in, one after another, in
measured succession from seaward--pursuing their onward course until
they broke on the curving shore of the bay, inside of us, with a dull
low roar, like that of some caged wild animal kept under restraint and
unable to exert its full strength.

After an hour's hard pulling, the boat got alongside the ship at last,
but the vessel floated so high out of the water that I could not help
wondering how we should ever be able to climb on board; for the square
portholes, which were the only openings in her massive wall-like sides
that I could see, were far above the level of the launch, even when the
swelling surge lifted us up every now and then on the top of a heaving
roller.

Dad, however, quickly solved the difficulty. At once catching hold of a
couple of side lines which hung down from above, he swung himself
dexterously on to a projecting piece of wood, like the bottom rung of a
ladder, fixed to the hull of the vessel, and stepping from this to
another cleat above he went up the side as easily as if he were
ascending an ordinary staircase, soon gaining the deck overhead and
disappearing from my view.

"My eye!" ejaculated the sailor beside me in the boat, surprised at
dad's familiarity with such a nautical procedure. "I am blessed if that
there gentle