was what most of the by-standers seemed to think, for they
sauntered away, laughing, and the two boys, seeing that nothing
sensational was likely to happen, returned to the forward part of the
ship.

"Do you think he was a German?" said Tom.

"No, sure he wasn't. Didn't you hear what good English he talked?"

"Yes, but he said _a_paratus," said Tom, "instead of saying it the
regular way. And he was sorry he said it, too, because the next time he
said _belongings_."

"You make me laugh," said Archer.

"There's another thing that makes me think he's a German," said Tom,
indifferent to Archer's scepticism.

"What's that?"

"He wanted the ship brought back just on his account."

CHAPTER XVI

TOM MAKES A DISCOVERY

Tom slept fitfully in his upper berth, thinking much of home and the
troop and the people back in Bridgeboro. He realized now, as he had not
before, the seriousness of the step he had taken. It came home to him in
the quiet of the long night and tinged his thoughts with homesickness.

Once, twice, in his restlessness, he clambered down and looked out
through the brass-bound port-hole across the deserted deck and out upon
the waste of ocean. Not a single reminder was there of the old familiar
life, not a friendly light in the vast, watery darkness.

He began to regard what he had done as a kind of wilful escapade, and
though not exactly sorry for the action, he felt strange and lonesome,
and his thoughts turned wistfully to the troop meeting which he knew was
now over. He thought of Pee-wee, with his trusty belt-axe, going
scout-pace up Main Street on his journey homeward; of Roy leaving Mr.
Ellsworth where the street up Blakeley's Hill began; of the office and
Margaret Ellison, and of his accustomed tasks.

No, he was not exactly sorry, but he--he wished that the vessel had not
started quite so soon, and so suddenly. He had never dreamed that the
momentous and perilous step of crossing the ocean was begun with so
little ceremony.

This train of thought suggested the passenger who had wished to go
ashore, and as Tom lay in his berth, wakeful but pleasantly lulled by
the slow, steady vibration of the great ship, he wondered who the man
was and why he couldn't sail without his belated luggage. He recalled
how the man had said _a_paratus once and how, after that, he had said
_belongings_. Then he recalled young Archer's laugh at his suspicion,
and he decided that it was only his own imaginati