s reserve
melted rapidly, his remote blue stare grew infinitely less distant; and
though he blushed furiously at some of the more audacious of Liane's
sallies, he was quick to take his cue when she expressed curiosity
concerning the duties of the officer of the watch. And coming up at
about two bells for a turn round the deck and a few breaths of fresh
air before dressing for dinner, Lanyard saw them on the bridge, their
heads together over the binnacle--to the open disgust of the man at the
wheel.

Liane hailed him, with vivacious gestures commanded his attendance. As
a brother in good standing, one could hardly do less than humour her
gracefully; so Lanyard trotted up to the companion ladder, and Liane,
resting a hand of sisterly affection upon his arm, besought him to make
clear to her feminine stupidity Swain's hopelessly technical
explanation of the compass and binnacle.

Obligingly Mr. Swain repeated his lecture, and Lanyard, learning for
himself with considerable surprise what a highly complicated instrument
of precision is the modern compass, and that the binnacle has essential
functions entirely aside from supporting the compass and housing it
from the weather, could hardly blame his sister for being confused.

Indeed, he grew so interested in Swain's exposition of deviation and
variation and magnetic attraction and the various devices employed to
counteract these influences, the Flinders bars, the soft-iron spheres,
and the system of adjustable magnets located in the pedestal of the
binnacle, that he had to be reminded by a mild exhibition of sisterly
temper that she hadn't summoned him to the bridge for his private
edification.

"So then!" he said after due show of contrition--"it is like this: the
magnetic needle is susceptible to many attractions aside from that of
the pole; it is influenced by juxtaposition to other pieces or masses
of magnetized metal. The iron ship itself, for example, is one great
magnet. Then there are dissociated masses of iron within the ship, each
possessing an individual power of magnetism sufficient to drag the
needle far from its normal fidelity to the pole. So the scientific
mariner, when he installs a compass on board his ship, measures these
several forces, their influence upon the needle, and installs others to
correct them--on the principle of like cures like.

"Let us put it in a figure: The compass is the husband, the pole the
wife. Now it is well known that husbands