the elegant saloons, then their snug
state-rooms, and at last the steerage apartment, where George and
Leander were to have their quarters.

The steerage was not a wholly uninviting apartment. It was a plain
cabin, amidships, well lighted and ventilated, and very clean. A
stanch-looking pair of stairs led down to it. On each side were bunks
in little rooms; those on the right hand for women, and on the left
for men. These were lighted and aired by port-holes. Each passenger
provided his own bedding and eating utensils.

"I like this," said Tommy Toby to the steward. "Are the passengers
here more likely to be sick than in the first cabin?"

"No," said the steward. "This is the steadiest part of the ship."

"Then what is the difference between the cabin and the steerage?"

"Well, the difference is in the folks, and the furniture, and the way
you eat your victuals."

The steerage passengers were allowed the freedom of the decks, but not
of the grand saloons. Master Lewis and the boys seated themselves in a
group on the upper deck, when they had well visited the different
parts of the ship.

Early in the evening, the immense ship moved slowly and steadily away
from the sultry wharves into the calm sea and cool air. The great city
with its gleaming spires seemed sinking in the sea, and the hills of
Neversink to be burying themselves in the shadows.

Pilot boats several times crossed the track of the steamer, with their
numbers conspicuously painted on their sails.

"Why does a captain, who navigates a ship across the ocean," asked
Frank of Master Lewis, "need the assistance of pilots and pilot-boats
when he is in sight of land?"

"It is because the harbor is more dangerous than the open ocean, and
pilots make these dangers the study of their lives.

"See yonder pilot-boat skimming with the grace of a sea-bird along the
sea. It has the stanchness of a ship built for the longest voyages. It
is doubtless made of the best oak, is sheathed with the best copper,
and may have cost twenty thousand dollars."

"The life of a pilot must be an adventurous one," said Frank, "and
there must be also much pleasure in it."

"It requires special education and hard training to become a pilot. It
is expected that the candidate for the position shall have been an
apprentice four years, during which he shall have performed all the
duties of a common sailor, even to the washing of the decks and the
tarring of the rigging. This is h