Sheffards are, I must say.--But here comes Wat, who will give you news of
the beach more interesting than mine. So good-night, my boy, and see
that you sleep sound."

So saying Mr. Leslie left him to repose

IV. FAIRLY AFLOAT.

Harry Leslie lay long awake that night, thinking over the words his
father had carelessly enough dropped. "Dog in the manger"--what did that
mean exactly? He had heard the phrase more than once, but had never
stopped to consider it in any way. Yet it was a plain sort of
illustration, carrying its own meaning along with it. Harry had once
been staying in the country with some cousins at a farm-house called
Clover Hollow, and he remembered them all laughing one day at "Grip," a
little Skye terrier, that had got into one of the mangers in the stable,
and kept at a respectable distance the good old pony to which it
belonged, barking at him and refusing to allow him the enjoyment of his
own breakfast. And Grip could not, of course, enjoy it himself--chopped
hay and oats not being at all in _his_ line. Seemingly, the only
pleasure Grip derived from this performance lay in keeping "Donald," the
old pony, from having any breakfast! And it was very laughable at the
time. Yes; Harry understood the words perfectly. And though it had been
laughable enough in the case of Grip, which was only a terrier, still,
however clever he might have been thought, Harry felt that it was not
quite the same when practised by rational beings. True, he was only
keeping that which most clearly belonged only to himself, whereas Master
Grip had feloniously seized on the possession of another. There was that
difference, certainly. Still, there was something in the thing Harry did
not quite like. He was usually a kind, unselfish sort of boy, and he did
not enjoy feeling that he was doing something rather miserly now. And
then, just that evening, his mother had been reading some verses from the
Bible to him, as she usually did, and one of them had been: "Whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." He had not
thought much about the words at the time, but they came back to his
memory now.

Early next morning Harry sent for Walter to come and speak to him.

"Wat," he said very cheerily, "the _Rover_ is going to make its first
voyage to-day. Hurrah! Aren't you glad?"

Walter stared at his friend and wondered if he had grown suddenly worse,
and was talking nonsense through fe