rting on another voyage?"

"When we get some passengers, it will be," responded the Skipper,
gruffly. "By-the-bye," he added, turning to the children; "_you_ want to
go somewhere or another, don't you?"

"Yes, to England," said Dick, eagerly. "Do you go there, please?"

"H'm! Never heard of the place as I knows of," said the Skipper,
scratching his head. "We might cruise about till we come across it, if
you like, though."

"Never heard of England!" exclaimed Dick.

"No," said the Skipper, unconcernedly. "I never had no time to study
goggerfy, I didn't, so there's lots of places I don't know, no more than
the Man in the Moon."

"But don't you find it very awkward?" cried the children; "however do
you know how to go from one place to another?"

"We don't know," said the Skipper, laughing; "that's just the fun of the
thing. We get into our ship, and just go on and on till we come to
somewhere or another, and then we land, you know. It's much the best
way, and saves such a lot of bother."

"I am afraid we should be a long while reaching England that way,"
remarked Dick, dubiously.

"Oh, I don't know," said the Skipper, "we might drop across it the first
time, you know. You see, it's not much use knowing in which direction
it lies, because, once you get out to sea, there are no roads and
things, so one way is as good as another."

"But don't you use a compass?" asked Marjorie.

"What's that, Miss?" asked the Skipper.

"Why, a little thing that always points to the North," said Marjorie.

"Blessed if I know, Miss," said the Skipper, good-naturedly. "Here,
Bill," he called to one of the sailors, "do we use a little thing that
always points to the North?"

"Not as I knows on," answered the man, sulkily. "We ain't got none of
them newfangled things, and don't want 'em."

"Dear me, what a very odd ship yours must be," said Dick. "Is it a
steamer, or a sailing vessel, please?"

"Oh, it's partly a sailing vessel and partly a rowing boat," said the
Skipper. "She's a very fine ship," he added, proudly, "come and have a
look at her."

The children followed him to a kind of rough harbor, where a most
extraordinary craft was moored. She looked very like a picture which
all the children remembered having seen in an old book at home, and
although there was a small sail, a number of gaily-painted paddles
sticking through the side of the huge boat, showed that, as the Skipper
had said, rowing played a very important pa