below the vast compass of the
oilskin breeches.

As Wilbur came on deck he saw the crew of the schooner hurrying forward,
six of them, Chinamen every one, in brown jeans and black felt hats. On
the quarterdeck stood the Captain, barking his orders.

"Consider the Lilee of the Vallee," bellowed the latter, as his eye fell
upon Wilbur the Transformed. "Clap on to that starboard windlass brake,
sonny."

Wilbur saw the Chinamen ranging themselves about what he guessed was
the windlass in the schooner's bow. He followed and took his place among
them, grasping one of the bars.

"Break down!" came the next order. Wilbur and the Chinamen obeyed,
bearing up and down upon the bars till the slack of the anchor-chain
came home and stretched taut and dripping from the hawse-holes.

"'Vast heavin'!"

And then as Wilbur released the brake and turned about for the next
order, he cast his glance out upon the bay, and there, not a hundred
and fifty yards away, her spotless sails tense, her cordage humming, her
immaculate flanks slipping easily through the waves, the water
hissing and churning under her forefoot, clean, gleaming, dainty, and
aristocratic, the Ridgeways' yacht "Petrel" passed like a thing of life.
Wilbur saw Nat Ridgeway himself at the wheel. Girls in smart gowns
and young fellows in white ducks and yachting caps--all friends of
his--crowded the decks. A little orchestra of musicians were reeling off
a quickstep.

The popping of a cork and a gale of talk and laughter came to his
ears. Wilbur stared at the picture, his face devoid of expression. The
"Petrel" came on--drew nearer--was not a hundred feet away from the
schooner's stern. A strong swimmer, such as Wilbur, could cover the
distance in a few strides. Two minutes ago Wilbur might have--

"Set your mains'l," came the bellow of Captain Kitchell. "Clap on to
your throat and peak halyards."

The Chinamen hurried aft.

Wilbur followed.

II. A NAUTICAL EDUCATION.

In the course of the next few moments, while the little vessel was being
got under way, and while the Ridgeways' "Petrel" gleamed off into the
blue distance, Wilbur made certain observations.

The name of the boat on which he found himself was the "Bertha Millner."
She was a two-topmast, 28-ton keel schooner, 40 feet long, carrying
a large spread of sail--mainsail, foresail, jib, flying-jib, two
gaff-topsails, and a staysail. She was very dirty and smelt abominably
of some kind of ranc