e trying than
those of other people. But we must do our young skipper the justice to
add that he sympathized with the excursionists in case they had no
supper.

The doors of the cabin were closed, but they were not locked. Little
Bobtail threw them open, and gazed down into the darkness. He could not
see anything but the faint light through the round ports in the trunk.
He descended the steps, and then stumbled against some boxes. Feeling
his way overhead, he placed his hand upon a lantern suspended from
above.

"All right!" exclaimed he. "That lantern is the right thing in the right
place. We will have some light on the subject."

He was an early riser, and made the fire in the cook-stove every morning
at home, which may account for the fact that he had a quantity of
matches in his pocket. He always carried them with him, for he had been
blown off once before, when he had a boat full of fish, and had to go
hungry all night because he could not make a fire to cook one or two of
them. Besides, when he sailed with strangers or with town's people, most
of them smoked, and he often found that a match was the one thing needed
in a boat. On account of this wise forecast and this prudent habit,
Little Bobtail had plenty of matches in his pocket; and having them, he
lighted one, and communicated the flame to the lamp in the lantern.

Excitedly he waited the revelations which the lamp was to make to him.
It was a beautiful cabin. The transoms were all cushioned, and there was
a table between them. Forward was the door which opened into the
cook-room. Over the table was a rack for bottles and glasses, and there
was a score of lockers filled with dishes and other table ware, with
charts, books, compasses, and other nautical necessaries. A handsome
spy-glass hung on a pair of brackets. At the end of the transoms were
several cushions, used as pillows, and some robes to cover the sleepers.

After this general survey of the interior of the cabin, Little Bobtail
turned his attention to the boxes upon which he had stumbled. All the
cabin floor, except a small portion aft, was covered with these boxes,
of which he counted twenty. The theory he had adopted that the yacht had
been used for a pleasure excursion, crumbled away as he saw these boxes,
for no party would go out sailing with the cabin lumbered up in this
manner. He overhauled one of the boxes, without being any the wiser, and
Little Bobtail was sorely puzzled. Taking the l