knew
that it was not his berth, and while he was wondering why this was,
something tickled his nose.

Naturally enough as the tickling went on, passing here and there, he
attributed it to a fly upon his face, and his instinct suggested to him
to knock it off. He made a movement to do this quickly and suddenly,
but his hand fell back upon his chest--whop! It was only a light touch,
but he heard it distinctly, and as the movement resulted in dislodging
the fly, he laughed to himself, perfectly satisfied. He felt very
comfortable and went to sleep again.

Hours must have passed, and it was light once more. He turned his head
and looked towards that light, to see that it was dancing and flashing
upon beautiful blue water all rippled and playing under the influence of
a gentle breeze. He could not see much of it, for he was only looking
through a round cabin-window. This was puzzling, for there was no such
window as that in the gunboat, and the mental question came--where was
he?

But it did not seem to matter. He was very comfortable, and that
dancing light upon the water was one of the most lovely sights he had
ever seen. He thought that it was a beautiful morning and that it was
very nice to lie and watch it, but he did not think about anybody else
or about whys or wherefores or any other puzzling problems, not even
about himself. But he did think it would be pleasant to turn himself a
little over on his side with his face close to the edge of the berth,
and take in long breaths of that soft, sweet air.

Acting upon this thought, he tried to turn himself, and for the first
time began to wonder why it was that he could not stir; and directly
after he began to wonder what it was he had been dreaming about;
something concerning his head aching horribly and going round and round
in a mill.

It was while he was obliged to give this up as something he could not
master that he heard a click as of a door opening, and the next moment
some one came softly in, and a face was interposed between his and the
cabin-window.

It was a rather rough but pleasant-looking face, with dark brown eyes
and blackish curly hair, cut short. The face was a good deal sunburnt
too. But he did not take much notice of that; it was the eyes that
caught his attention, looking searchingly into his, and Fitz waited,
expecting the owner of the eyes would speak; and then it seemed to him
that he ought to ask something--about something. But