n, and after the choir came fully two dozen
knights whose chain mail shone in the sunlight like gold.

"Here she comes!"

Now hats waved wildly, and handkerchiefs fluttered--as into sight, her
many rosy, silken sails filled to stiffness with the breeze, her scores
of flags snapping in the glorious air, and all her lovely lines showing
in sharp beauty against a violet-blue sky, came Jim Hawkins's superb
ship, crewless, and unguided, but moving evenly, slowly, majestically,
as if she were some living thing!

Roses garlanded her--pink roses by the thousands. They circled her rail
like a monster wreath. They hung down from her yardarms, too, in mammoth
festoons. And her cargo--forward, it was of watermelons, which were
arranged in a huge heap at the prow; aft, her load was books! There were
books in red bindings, and books in brown and green. Here and there on
the piles of volumes a book would be open, showing attractive
illustrations. To judge of the size of the consignment it was evident
that not one book had been left in that certain Fifth Avenue store!

Cheers--as softly the _Hispaniola_ came to a stop.

"All aboard!" shouted Johnnie. "All but Thomas Barber, who's goin' t' be
left behind 'cause he was so mean!"

What a blow! The longshoreman, plainly crushed by it, sank lower on his
step and covered his face.

But the company cared little how he felt. Shouting gayly, chatting,
smiling, waving to one another, all swarmed across the rose-bordered
rail to embark at Johnnie's bidding. Last of all stalked the haughty
Buckle--to begin passing melon.

"Ready! Let 'er go!"

Now a soul-inspiring blending of choir and instruments--just as Johnnie
gave his command, and the ship of his dreams moved off across the roofs
of the city, with no rolling from side to side. Skillfully she steered
her own way among the chimneys till she was lifted above them, all the
while tossing the blue air to either side of her prow exactly as if it
were water, so that it rose up in cloud-topped waves, and curled, and
broke along her rose-trimmed sides in crystal, from where it fell to lay
behind her in a long, tumbled, frothy path.

"Oh, Cis, we're sailin' the sky!" Johnnie shouted. His yellow hair was
blowing straight back from his eager, happy face as he peered forward
(as a good captain should) into the limitless, but astronomer-charted,
leagues ahead. "We're floatin' in the ocean o' space!"

Here, close at hand, was a cloud, monster, d