castle, where the men had all huddled together, but old Surley
was not there. This made us very anxious about him. No one had seen
him. We began to fear that, as he had not hands to hold on by, he must
have been washed overboard when the heavy sea struck the ship which had
laid her on her beam ends.

"You'd better not be scuttling about the decks, young gentlemen," said
Ben Yool. "Another of those big seas may come, and then if you are
caught by it you may be carried away further off than you'll like."

"Thank you, Ben," we answered. "We'll take care of ourselves; but we
must first find old Surley, whatever happen." Saying this, we began to
work our way aft again, peering and putting our hands into every place
where we thought he could be stowed away. As we were passing along
close to the booms on the starboard side, under the long boat, I thought
amidst the howling of the tempest that I heard a low whine. I told
Jerry. We together hunted about the spot till our hands touched a hairy
coat. It was that of old Surley. Of that we were certain, by hearing
him again whine. He could not move. Poor fellow, he had been jammed in
among the booms. We judged that there would be great difficulty in
releasing him, but after feeling about in all directions round him, we
determined to make the attempt. I took his head and Jerry took his
tail, and, watching our opportunity as the spars separated by the
movement of the ship, we lifted him out of the trap in which he had been
caught. He licked my face and hands, and then turned round and did the
same to Jerry; indeed, he took every means to evince his gratitude. We
were very happy to find that none of his bones had been broken, and
together we all three scrambled back in the best way we could to the
cabin. Old Surley seemed to be very hungry after his imprisonment, so I
made another excursion on deck to the cook's larder, and got him a piece
of meat, with which I returned to the cabin. We should have been glad
of something of the sort ourselves, but as we could not attempt to cook
anything, and the meat I had brought was raw, we gave the whole of it to
our four-footed friend. We all sat down on the deck of the cabin,
holding on by the legs of the table--that is to say, Jerry and I held
on, and Surley lay between us. The doctor was in his berth. After, as
he said, he had sufficiently enjoyed the scene on deck, he had wisely
turned in, feeling that he could be of no u