the ship. The lady then seated herself on
the little platform in the bow, and seemed to be as happy as ever, and
that was saying a great deal.

"Give way!" said Mr. Gaskette, laughing at the apparent self-possession
of Mrs. Mingo when her troubles were over. The cutter came alongside the
ship under its davits, the falls were hooked on, and the boat was
hoisted up. The lady was the first to leap from her place to the rail of
the ship.

The passengers applauded as she moved aft; and she replied with her
usual cry, and ended it with a squeak. She went directly to the
promenade, which she mounted, and then hastened to Mrs. Belgrave's
chair. She looked at her baby as though it had been overboard. Miss
Mingo's keeper had taken care that the infant should not see her mother
in the water; and the little one could not have told what was the matter
if any one had asked her, first because she did not know, and second for
an obvious reason.

The ship was going ahead again, and the captain came to the promenade.
He took the lady into the sun, and persuaded her to lie down and dry
herself. She seemed to understand the matter, and stretched herself out.

"What made her fall overboard, Captain?" asked the lady--meaning Mrs.
Belgrave this time, and not the siamang.

[Illustration: SHE MADE A VIGOROUS LEAP INTO THE FORE-SHEETS.

_Page 267._]

"The fore topgallant halliard was not made fast to the cleat, and when
it ran out, it jerked her from it," replied the commander. "It ought not
to have been loose, and there is a bit of discipline for some jack-tar."

The ship went along as before; and when the passengers turned out the
next morning Manila was in sight, and not five miles distant.

CHAPTER XXIX

GOING ON SHORE IN MANILA

The ship had slowed down in the afternoon, and reached the entrance of
Manila Bay about eight bells, or four o'clock in the morning. At the
Boca Grande she had taken a pilot; but she still had twenty-five miles
to run. She had come in by the larger of the two passages, formed by a
group of islands, both of which are called "mouths" (_bocas_); and the
smaller of them is the Boca Chica. The Blanche had followed the example
of the Guardian-Mother in slowing down, and had taken a pilot at about
the same time.

The passengers had asked the steward on watch in the cabin to call them
at half-past five, and they were all on deck as soon as it was light
enough for them to see the shore clearly. But the