himself who robbed
you.'

'So do I,' Charlie replied; 'but how can I prove it? And if I could
prove it, what good would it be while we are on his ship? All we can do
is to take extra precautions against being robbed.'

After talking for about half an hour, they fell asleep, and were not
again disturbed.

When they went on deck, shortly after breakfast, the skipper summoned
all hands on deck, and questioned each man as to whether he had been
into the saloon during the night. Each one denied having done so, and
Charlie believed them.

'It is my opinion,' the skipper said to Charlie an hour or two later,
'that it was that Chinaman who robbed you.'

'If you knew Ping Wang as well as I do, such a foolish idea would never
have entered your head.'

'All Chinamen are very crafty. You had better let me make him sleep in
the foc's'le.'

'So that it would be easier for me to be robbed.'

'What do you mean? Do you accuse me of robbing you?'

'I do not accuse any one unless I can prove my charges. At any rate, I
shouldn't be doing you an injustice if I did call you a thief, knowing,
as I do, what a collection of stolen property you have in the hold. A
receiver of stolen goods is not an atom better than a thief.'

With this parting shot Charlie walked away.

(_Continued on page 258._)

OUTWITTING HIMSELF.

A celebrated physician once attended the child of a wealthy French lady,
who was so grateful for the recovery of her boy that she determined to
give a larger fee than usual for his attendance. As he was taking leave
on his final visit, the grateful mother handed to the doctor a handsome
pocket-book, which she said she had worked with her own hands. The
doctor bowed stiffly, and said, 'Madam, the pocket-book is quite a work
of art, and I admire it exceedingly, but my fee is two thousand francs.'

'Not more?' she replied; and taking the pocket-book back, she removed
from it five one-thousand franc-notes, and handed two of them to the
doctor, bowing stiffly in her turn, and, replacing the other three notes
in the rejected pocket-book, she retired.

[Illustration: "The grateful mother handed the doctor a handsome
pocket-book."]

[Illustration: CROSSING THE BROOK.]

[Illustration: "'Come over here and surrender.'"]

AFLOAT ON THE DOGGER BANK.

A Story of Adventure on the North Sea and in China.

(_Continued from page 255._)

CHAPTER VIII.

From the coper skipper's point of view the two follo