r was full of alligators, and two
sharp-set ones were on the scent instantly. It is my opinion that those
two natives would, then and there, have been devoured, if we had not run
in between and made such a splashing and hullaballoo with boat-hook,
oars, and voices, that the monsters were scared away. I have never
steered since that day."

"I don't wonder; and, with my consent, you shall not steer now," said
Mabberly, laughing. "Why, Giles, I was under the impression that you
understood everything, and could do almost anything!"

"Quite a mistake, Bob, founded in error or superstition. You have
confused the will with the deed. I am indeed willing to try anything,
but my capacity for action is limited, like my knowledge. In regard to
the higher mathematics, for instance, I know nothing. Copper-mining I
do not understand. I may say the same with reference to Tartar
mythology, and as regards the management of infants under two years I am
densely ignorant."

"But do you really know nothing at all about boats and ships, Giles?"
asked Barret, who, being a good listener, did not always shine as a
speaker.

"How can you ask such a question? Of course I know a great deal about
them. They float, they sail and row, they steer--"

"Rather badly sometimes, according to your own showing!" remarked
Barret.

Having cleared the Pentland Firth, Mabberly consulted the skipper one
morning as to the prospects of the weather. "Going to fall calm, I
fear," he said, as McPherson came aft with his hands in his pilot-coat
pockets.

"Ay, sir, that iss true, what-e-ver."

To pronounce the last word correctly, the central "e" must be run into a
long-drawn, not an interjectional, sound.

"More-o-ver," continued the skipper, in his drawling nasal tone, "it's
goin' to be thick."

Being a weather-wise man, the skipper proved to be right. It did come
thick; then it cleared, and, as we have said, things became favourable
until they got further out to sea. Then a fancy took possession of
Mabberly--namely, to have a "spin out into the Atlantic and see how it
looked!" It mattered not to Jackman or Barret what they did or where
they went; the first being exuberantly joyous, the other quietly happy.
So they had their run out to sea; but twenty-four hours of it sufficed--
it became monotonous.

"I think we'd better go back now," suggested Mabberly.

"Agreed," said his companions.

"Iss it goin' back you'll be?" asked the skipper.